


Semi-Casual

by PurpleD54



Series: Casual [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Mild Smut, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:18:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleD54/pseuds/PurpleD54
Summary: Stuff happens behind the scenes when there isn't a mission. But then there is a mission. Are the Baby Agents ready?





	1. What If He Thinks I Don't Want Him?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [auntienessi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auntienessi/gifts).



> This is a continuation of the story from Casual. Please read that first or this won't make any sense at all.
> 
> Marvel owns these characters. I like to take them out for a joy ride and add some extras to play along.
> 
> auntienessi-Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. It turns out there was more to this story. Hope you enjoy it.

            "Oh my God, I was mean to him," Phil said to himself, "He was trying to give me everything I needed and I was mean to him." _What if he thinks I don't want him?_  "I have to find him. Now." Phil dashed out of his apartment and into his car. He drove to Clint's apartment and ran all the way up the stairs and started pounding on Clint's door. There was no answer. Phil picked the lock. He had to know if Clint was here. Now.

            Once inside, he locked the door again. He could hear water running in the bathroom. He slipped off his shoes and socks and walked through the hall and into the bathroom and right into Clint's shower.

            "Phil?" Clint said in a surprised tone. Phil grabbed him and pushed him against the shower wall and kissed him deeply. Clint responded whole-heartedly. When they were out of breath, Phil raised his head and asked,

            "Why is the water cold?"

            "I'm trying really hard not to go to your place and do something unforgiveable."

            "Oh, like I just did?" said Phil. Clint adjusted the water to a warmer temperature.

            "Phil, I'm trying to give you space. I want to give you everything," said Clint.

            Phil answered him with a gleam in his eye, "But you had me at hello." Clint turned the water off. The sudden silence was deafening.

            "Phil, what are you saying?" whispered Clint.

            "I choose... Yes, I choose you. I want a relationship with you. I want the next step. I'm still not ready to announce it to all of SHIELD but I want us to be together. That's if…" Phil paused.

            "What? If what, Phil?" Clint said.

            "I was mean to you. I'm sorry. I missed you so much. I thought you were rejecting me. Then you gave me the document. And the ring….And that delicious video. You didn't change your mind, did you, Clint?" Phil was trembling. He wasn't sure if it was from the cold water or the possibility of Clint changing his mind.

            Clint picked up Phil's right hand and kissed the ring, "What kind of promise would this be if I changed my mind when every little breeze blows? I'm more worried that I might screw this up and you'll get sick of me. I don't know how to be in a relationship. But I want this too, Phil. Please. May I?"

 Clint's hands were on Phil's shirt buttons and Phil nodded his head. Clint gently opened them, laying warm kisses on Phil's chest as each new piece of skin was revealed. The wet material was hard to deal with but Clint got the shirt off and wrung it out before putting it on the towel outside the shower. His hands moved over Phil's chest noting the ticklish places, the places that made Phil gasp, the scars of the warrior, Clint kissed them all. Then his hands moved to Phil's belt and pants.

            "You know you probably ruined these," Clint said, pulling out the belt.

            "I don't care. My dry cleaner can fix almost anything," Phil laughed, putting his hands on Clint's big shoulders. Clint flexed his muscles listening to Phil's breath hitch then opened the button and ran his hand down the outside of Phil's pants, feeling his stiffness begging for attention.

            "Is that a…" Clint started.

            "Shut up. Yes, I'm really happy to see you, Clint."

            Clint laughed and stripped off Phil's pants, wringing them out and putting them on the towel outside the shower with Phil's shirt. Clint turned them around so Phil's back was against the shower wall. Then he knelt down and gently nibbled Phil's hardness through his boxer briefs. After several bites, he pulled them down and Phil stepped out of them. With his hands on Phil's hips, Clint moved forward and licked Phil's cock from base to tip and then slid his lips around it, his tongue tasting all the flavors of Phil. Phil's hands were carding through Clint's hair, chasing lightning over his scalp. Clint felt as if his blood was sizzling through his veins. Earlier today, he never thought this would be possible. Eagerly, he moved into a happy rhythm, feeling Phil's excited response, letting it feed his own. He moved one of his hands to stroke Phil's inner thigh and to caress his balls. Clint worked it deeper and deeper into his throat. He could feel his own cock raging hard and very close to coming.

            Phil gasped, "Clint, I'm…" Clint could feel the changes, could feel Phil's balls drawing up getting ready to release. Clint swallowed around Phil's cock and hummed. Phil shouted Clint's name as it rushed out of him. Clint swallowed over and over. He wanted every drop. His own release flowed down the drain as he came untouched and moaned in happy ecstasy. Phil's knees were shaking. It was a good thing he was leaning against the shower wall.

            After a few breaths, Phil grabbed Clint and dragged him up to kiss into his mouth and lick the taste of himself off of Clint's tongue. His tight hug was reassuring and felt like home. Clint took a deep breath around the kisses and relaxed for a minute. Then got busy. He turned the water back on.

            "Stay here and finish up before the water gets cold, I'll find you some dry clothes and we can have something to eat. I'll get a plastic bag for your wet clothes for now." Then he took hold of Phil's face in both hands and said,

            "Thank you for choosing me, Phil. I want this too." A tender kiss and he was gone from the shower. Phil stood under the hot water, still feeling weak, his head still spinning. His bruises were of the greenish yellow variety now and less painful but his limbs still shook. At least he knew why. Clint's hot mouth made him lose track of everything else. Phil shook his head. _Barton was going to be a handful but this was going to be so much fun._ His heart already felt less lonely and he pulled himself together and grabbed the shampoo. In a few minutes, Phil was done. He turned off the water. There were clean towels laid out for him and some boxer briefs and SHIELD sweats. There was also a new toothbrush package, toothpaste and a dazzling array of toiletry items next to a new travel case to keep them in.

            Damn Ninja.

            Dressing quickly, he left the bathroom to find Clint who was in the kitchen. Phil stood watching for a bit. Clint cooking in the kitchen was still an amazing sight for him. Clint strode around setting the table, his bare feet pattering over the warm tile floor. The t-shirt and sweats he was wearing looked comfortable. Clint took out the salad and dressing from the fridge and placed them on the table. He checked something in the oven, his hands encased in oven mitts. As soon as he shut the oven door, Phil grabbed him into a hug and kissed him. Clint hugged him back relaxing into the feel of Phil's lips. His eyes shining with happiness.

            "Did you rob a drugstore or did I just move into your bathroom?" Phil asked with a laugh.

            "I had hopes and I was just trying to be prepared," Clint replied, "You are also in the closet by the way."

            "What? How?" Phil spluttered.

            "Our first date at The Copper Kettle. You left here in my sweats. Your suit is here and I had it cleaned along with your shirt and tie, and I washed all the other pieces so you have a drawer in the closet," Clint admitted.

            "Damn Ninja. And what are you doing here in the kitchen? Don't we get a nap or something?"

            "Nap later. I cooked a lot so we might as well eat some of it. I froze a lot of stuff too. About 3 weeks-worth of meals, I think," said Clint.

            "Well, it smells wonderful." Phil declared and pulled Clint into another kiss. Shortly after, they were interrupted by a buzzer.

            "I have to get the lasagna out of the oven, Phil," Clint laughed as Phil tried to keep him from moving. Phil laughed and sat down at the table.

            Clint lifted the pan out of the oven and brought it to the table. "I hope I remembered how to make this right. I haven't made one since I was in the circus." Clint froze as he realized how his words sounded. Phil was at his side in an instant.

            "It's okay, Clint. I'm sure it will be good. You don't forget things like that. It smells wonderful. Do you have a spatula or something to get it out of the pan?" Clint looked at Phil with relief at his calm acceptance. He laid the pan down on several potholders on the table and bustled around the kitchen collecting utensils to use and then cut into the dish and served large helpings. Phil took his plate back murmuring happy little noises. And at the first taste, Phil was over the moon,

            "Oh, Clint, this is so good. I could eat this every day for the rest of my life."

            "Okay Garfield, but then you would miss out on the other things I can cook," Clint said with a glint in his eye. He stood up and opened the freezer door, "See? I cooked all day Saturday." Phil's eyes grew appreciative at the sight of Clint's full freezer and he breathed out a soft oooo. Clint laughed.

            "You just want me for my freezer," he accused.

            "Clint," Phil said, "I want you. The freezer is a nice bonus but I want you." Clint sat down again and Phil laid his hand over Clint's and twined their fingers together. It felt nice to just be together and enjoy this time.

            Towards the end of their meal Clint grew serious. "If we are going to have a semi-casual relationship, then my past is going to haunt us. I need to work some things out with Psych before I can unload all this baggage on you. Like me stress cooking. I haven't cooked since I got left behind from the circus. We're talking more than 12 years. And I've never cooked by myself before. I'm not sure where this all blossomed from. It's not fair to you. Thank you for letting me say things and not hounding me for explanations. It will come but it will take time because I just don't know."

            Phil got up from the table and pulled Clint into a hug. "I know what you mean. If you need it, I can come with you to Psych so you only have to go through it once. You know I have Dougie baggage of my own." Phil stopped and snorted, "You've got me calling him that now too. What I'm trying to say is that we can help each other through this together. We don't have to explain every little thing. We can use a code word or something if we're not ready to explain. Or just do a zip lip motion or something."

            "That works for me. Thank you, Phil. How did I get to have a friend like you?"

            "Clint, I think we are both pretty lucky. Now. Let me help clean up. Don't freeze the leftovers, I want a snack later. You are going to turn me into a fat Phil."

            Clint laughed and pecked him on the cheek, then said, "That'll be the day. You'll just have to jog more." They both laughed and worked together to clean up the kitchen and sat down to watch Dog Cops.

            When Phil woke alone In Clint's bed on Tuesday morning, it was bittersweet. He knew Clint had gotten up hours earlier to go workout and get ready to teach the baby agents. When Phil went into the bathroom, there was a purple post-it note on the counter with a key on it. _Since you gave me a key to your place, you should have a key to mine also. Clive Roberts_

            Phil laughed.

            "Damn Ninja."


	2. Acorns Are Your Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unusual lessons for the Baby Agents.

            Clint couldn't stop smiling. Through his whole workout session on the range, greeting and instructing the baby agents when they came to shoot, cleaning the guns after, Clint still couldn't stop smiling. Even though he had some butterflies in his stomach, he still couldn't stop smiling. Angela took things into her own hands and said,

            "Congratulations, Agent Barton. If you are not ready to announce it to the rest of SHIELD, you have to stop smiling."

            "I'm not smiling," Clint said with a big grin. All the baby agents gathered around him and gave him a big group hug.

            "Thank you all," Clint said, "I'm not confirming or denying anything. And we have to get back to work. I want to do something different today. We're not going to stretch out right now. We will still be sparring with the Level 3 agents this afternoon, but for this morning we are going to go over things you can use as weapons that you might not think are weapons. This presumes that you have been stripped of all your other weapons. Or pretending you have no other weapons. Or just using whatever's handy. Not counting guns, who is carrying?"

            All their hands went up. Clint promised them a round of knife-throwing on the range in the morning.

            "Sir," Victor broke in, "Is the rumor true that Agent Coulson killed someone with a paperclip?"

            Clint laughed. "You can't believe anything you hear on the rumor hotlines. It took a paperclip and a cufflink in that case. The single paperclip event was me."

            At their amazed faces, Clint continued, "But that is an advanced move. I'm not sure it's something to brag about. More like using what you have available. You will start with something simpler. Like a salt shaker." Clint continued to discuss weapons and pressure points, pain points and vulnerable places on the body. They had studied this in classes at the Academy but these reminders brought it a lot closer.

            They all walked down to the cafeteria and Clint talked about how to use everything around them as weapons, like the easiest way to break a chair, which parts could do the most damage. Clint picked up a butter dish from a table and passed it  around the circle so everyone could contribute a way to use it as a weapon. He told them a few more ways that hadn't been in their SHIELD classes. Then they did the same thing with the salt shakers.

            Soon they went through the food line and everyone got to pick one thing to eat. They all sat down together and each one told why they picked that particular item and how they could kill someone with it. After that, Clint told them 10 more ways to use it as a weapon. No one wanted to eat after that, except for Seth who was tall, thin and always hungry. Everyone silently passed their plates to Seth. Then they went around the circle and each told the group their favorite food and how to kill a person with it. After each one, Clint gave them 10 more ways to kill a person with that particular food.

            Next Clint named something outside and everyone had to describe a way to kill someone with it. Then Clint pulled an acorn out of his pocket and held it up,

            "Acorns are your friend. The average person won't consider it a weapon and won't take it away from you. How would you use it?"  Everyone started shouting out answers. When they couldn't think of any more, Clint gave them 15 more ways to kill someone with an acorn, what methods worked best for a large muscular person and what worked best for a small person, methods that were secretive and the methods that couldn't be hidden. It was an eye-opening experience for all of them and gave them all a new way to think.

            "You all need to know about these possibilities and know that there are bad guys out there who will do the same to you. You need to know how to defend yourself against these types of unexpected weapons." Clint led them back to the studio and started breaking down the unusual weapons into types. Then he showed them self defense moves against the various types.

            "You already have these moves, keep practicing them so your body will perform them when you need them. Know what is coming at you and which defenses will work. Know what is around you. Decide if you want to protect yourself by removing their weapon and using it yourself or if you just want to use yourself as the weapon or find your own weapon. The moves are different. Keep the big picture in your mind. Look for offensive opportunities.

            Here is where you should channel emotions from past experiences of anger or hurt. I'm not talking about berserker rage. Don't let it overwhelm you but let it fuel you. Use it. Spar with other agents whenever you can. Everyone has their own moves and the more exposure you get the better prepared you will be.

            Okay, let's break for lunch. Be back here by 13:00 hours for stretching and we'll spar with the Level 3 agents this afternoon."

            Everyone except Seth moaned thinking they wouldn't be able to eat. Then Seth moaned back at them and said,

            "I need food. Come with me and we can play 'How many pieces of popcorn does it take to kill a person?' And I bet I will win." Everyone's ears perked up and they all went off to have lunch.

            As they walked, Angela wondered out loud, "Can we make Seth explode if we overfill him?"

            Victor huffed and replied, "Is it possible for Seth to reach a point where he is overfilled? It has never happened yet."

            "Guys, you know I'm right here," Seth rumbled. Mike looked at Abby and Angela and muttered,

            "We're going to be late back to class aren't we?"

            Valerie looked at Johnny and Eddy and said, "Not if we all stay together."

            "It can be like a science experiment," Eddy said.

            "For science!" They all shouted together.

            And Angela quietly texted Clint that they might be back a bit late for class.

            _Is there a problem? Are you guys ok?_ Clint texted back.

            _It’s a science experiment…How much food does it take to make Seth explode?_ Angela responded.

            _Good Luck with that! Take an extra half hour._

*****

            Clint hurried off to Phil's office but he wasn't there. He sent a text to the Level 3 agents pushing back the class time. His baby agents deserved a bit of fun after the morning they had. Clint walked through some hallways not even realizing where he was going. When he found himself at the Psych Reception Desk, he knew it was time to confront his feelings. Dr. York came out of her office to give Hannah the receptionist a file to put away. When she saw Clint, she pulled him into her office right away.

            "Okay, Clint, what has you in a panic enough to come to my office on an off day?"

            "Butterflies in my stomach," Clint admitted.

            "Come sit down, have a bottle of water, let me ask some questions, and we'll figure it out."

            With a sigh of relief, Clint sat in the comfy chair and rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm so happy, but I can't quite believe it and I keep waiting for something bad to happen."

            "When was the last time you were this happy? Dr. York passed Clint a bottle of water along with the question.

            "I've never been this happy but the closest to it was in the circus," Clint admitted taking a drink then continuing, "After the circus, it was a constant struggle just to eat, always on the run, hyper  vigilance, never a moment to breathe, but when I was in the circus it wasn't all bad."

            "What was the best time in the circus?"

            "Every day, performing, the applause."

            Dr. York continued, "Then what was the worst time in the circus?"

            Clint let out a snort and said in a low angry voice, "Every. Damn. Day. Oh wait, I guess the real worst time was when my mentor or maybe I should call him my tormentor, his name was Trickshot, he and my brother Barney beat me up, stabbed me and left me for dead, and the circus moved on without me. I was 16. Yeah, that was a pretty fucked up day."

            Dr. York looked at him calmly, then said, "And now you are waiting for the same thing to happen again."

            "Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I just don't deserve to be this happy. I don't know how to be in a relationship. I keep feeling like I'm going to fuck it up somehow. I'm doing strange things. I cooked all day Saturday. I made all the dishes I could remember having in the circus. I froze most of it so I have a freezer full of food. I haven't cooked anything in like 12 years. I was trying to keep busy so I wouldn't go back over to Phil's place."

            "Who did you make all that food for?" asked Dr. York.

            "Phil," Clint replied automatically then sucked in a breath. Dr. York nodded.

            "This was after the Dougie thing, right?" At Clint's nod, she continued, "When was the last time you had someone besides yourself to take care of? I'm guessing it was in the circus. Cooking is caring. You were returning the care that others had given to you back then. When you wouldn't let yourself be with Phil you subconsciously started doing things to care for him. Things that got good responses in your past experience. Did he like it?"

            "He said he wanted to eat my lasagna every day for the rest of his life."

            "Oh yeah, that's a great response. Being in a relationship doesn't mean you have to act any different, you just need to remember that you care for another person, care for his feelings, care for his well-being as much as you care for your own and it sounds like you are doing that just fine. By the way, has he seen the purple shirt video?"

            Clint smiled and finally relaxed a bit, "Yeah, after he saw it he came over looking for me and popped into my cold shower fully dressed. He said he was sorry for being mean to me and that he thought I was rejecting him. Then he realized I wasn't rejecting him….Huh, he might be as unsure as I am. Then he said he _chose_ me. He chose _me_. We had shower sex, well, I gave him a blow job and then I made lasagna for him. He loved it. We watched TV for a bit and went to bed. I had to be up at 04:00. He's so cuddly, it's wonderful sleeping with him. We're officially Semi-Casual. Just not announcing it or anything."

            "But no nap after the sex?"

            "Phil asked the same thing…" Clint looked startled, "Am I messing it up already? Is that a thing?"

            "For most men there is a physiological need for a nap after sex but you are not most men. Let me ask this: When you had your string of one-night stands, how did you feel about those people? What did you do after those?"

            "Most of them were not at my place. It was just to scratch an itch. I always got right up and headed out. I couldn't wait to get home and shower and get rid of their smell…oh….When Phil said I was too busy for a date with him, I cut off all the one-night stands. It wasn't even that hard to do and I really didn't miss it."

            "So you've never been in love before. You were used to escaping after a one-night stand. That's why this is so different for you. Clint, you are not doing anything wrong. You don't have to be perfect. Just be yourself. That is the person Phil wants to be with. Be open to new experiences, like cuddling after sex. You are doing things for him. You need to allow him to do things for you. This relationship is new for him too. Relationship sex is very different from one-night stand sex. You've also never been this happy before. Your subconscious keeps comparing it to your past so all your circus experiences are leaking out of the mental box you put them in. Your only experience with happiness was always tainted so you keep expecting something bad to happen. We'll talk more about that the next time you are here. For now, enjoy your happiness. Embrace it. Love is a gift. You don't have to do anything to earn it. Just accept it."

            "How do I deserve a friend like this?" Clint said.

            "You are a very special person, Clint," Dr. York said, "How does Phil deserve a friend like you?"

            "Like me? I'm just a stupid ex-carny, barely literate. He's wonderful. He's so competent. He's always put together. He's always thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone else."

            "He thinks you are an amazing friend, a talented marksman, a great agent, very charming, smarter than you let on and he likes your body. Who else would jump into someone else's cold shower?"

            Clint laughed, "How do you know all that? You are a ninja, aren't you? I'm so lucky."

            "Yes, you are," said Dr. York ignoring his question, "Not everyone is lucky enough to find the right person to even start up a relationship. There will be ups and downs. That's normal. It's not a matter of deserving something. It's a gift. So enjoy it. The key is to keep open lines of communication ,talk about your feelings, especially during disagreements. Oh, and all the food in the freezer? Have a dinner party."

            Clint laughed and then got a thoughtful look on his face. "Thanks, Doc, I appreciate you making time for me," Clint said as he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not a Psychologist or a security expert. Although my husband (RIP) was a police officer for many years. And some of it rubbed off a bit.


	3. Extra Credit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures in Eating and People Watching  
> Seth is just a bit hungry.

            Clint left Dr York's office and hurried off to the cafeteria wondering if his baby agents were still there. Yup, there they were and there was a very large crowd around them all watching Seth stuff his face. The Level 3 agents were also there plus everyone who had stopped by to have lunch. A number of them were chanting, _Seth, Seth, Seth, Seth,_ when Clint approached the table where Seth was ensconced. There were mostly empty plates around him signaling a truly appalling amount of food that he had put away.

            "Seth, have you been eating since class ended?" Clint shouted. Then it got quiet, everyone holding their breath.

            "Oh, hi sir. Yes. They got tired of just watching me eat and decided they had to 'create' some weird combinations for me to eat. Brussels sprouts in the mashed potatoes with maple syrup was not my favorite but the chocolate short ribs were amazing."

            "He hasn't slowed down once, sir." contributed Abby, "The Lunch Ladies started bringing us leftovers just to get rid of them."

            "Time to break this up and head for class," Clint ordered.  A disappointed groan spread through the crowd.  "Are you ok to spar, Seth? You're not going to throw up on anyone are you?"

            Seth let out an enormous, heroic, lengthy, window-rattling burp. "Ah, that's better. Nope, I'm good to spar, sir. No barfing in the immediate future." The crowd burst into a loud cheer.

            "Do you have a tape worm or something? Clint asked.

            "You never know," Seth replied with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

            Clint sent a text to Fury. _Tell me you got all that sir._

_Just sent it to your computer. Yes, I like your baby agents. Might need to put them on a mission soon._

            Back at the studio, everyone was stretching, but also giggling. Seth's belly stuck out obscenely but he was keeping up with all the stretching. Everyone who looked at him dissolved into puddles of laughter which set off the other agents around them.

            "Please, I can't…no more…"begged Angela helpless with laughter. Three others couldn't even talk for laughing so hard and there was no stretching going on.

            Finally Clint announced: "It seems that sparring this afternoon is flying out the window. So we are going to do something else instead. Level 3 agents, you have the rest of the day off, we will take this up in the morning at 07:00. Everyone else, follow me." They all nodded and filed out the door.

            Clint led them to a third floor conference room and got them all seated in chairs at the floor-to-ceiling windows.

            "Okay, what we are doing here is watching the people on the street below. If you have to follow someone, and they go into a store, how do you find them again?

            What you need to watch for is how they move: their walk, how they swing their arms, how they move their feet, their core strength. If they are with someone or alone, does that change further down the street? If they go into a store and change their outward appearance like clothing, shoes or hair, what would you look for?

            If you were told to engage them in a conversation, what would you say? How would you keep them from walking away from you? How would you follow them without them noticing? How would you work together as a group to follow someone? In addition, you need to focus on all the people around you to make sure you are safe and not being followed yourself. You need to learn how to use all the reflective surfaces around you to see everything going on. And I know that you had classes on this already but doing the practical part, live action, is very different."

            They watched the people below for a while, making up stories about them. Conversations they could have. Methods they could use to follow someone.  Clint's phone chimed. His eyes flinched when he saw that it was a message from Fury. He hoped these kids were ready. He turned away from the window for a second slipping a com unit into his ear. They all kept looking out the windows.

            Valerie and Eddy spoke up at the same time, "Sir?" They pointed to someone on the sidewalk below, finishing each other's words.

            "There's a woman below with red hair,"

            "…and a red dress,"

            "…she's pacing on the sidewalk,"

            "…she's walked past the building,"

            "… 3 times already…"

            Clint looked at the woman they were pointing to, "Very good, extra credit for you both. She is a SHIELD Agent." Clint knocked on the window and the woman looked up and waved then entered the building. "And there are  more agents out there. Keep looking."

            Angela choked on a laugh, "I think I see one sir. Is that Uncle Phil? OMG, his feet must be killing him."

            "Where?" said Clint.

            "The blond lady with the pink suit. Those killer pink stilettos are hurting his feet and he's walking a bit unsteady. Nice legs, though."

            The rest of the agents buzzed excitedly, murmuring _where? where?_ and searching the sidewalk.

            "Just kidding, I didn't really see it," said Angela. Everyone groaned in frustration but Angela shared a little grin with Clint.

            Seth very quietly said, "Fury is watching us with binoculars from the building across the street." Clint signed to Fury letting him know that Seth had seen him. Fury nodded his head abruptly and turned to leave, his leather coat swirling around him.

            "I've got one," said Mike, "Lady in a gray flowery dress walking the black and white dog. I know that dog. It's Major. And Agent Stevenson."

            "You are correct. One more, anyone see them?"

            Eddy gruffed a hoarse laugh. "I have the last one. I don't know if it's male or female but they're dressed as part of the building. The yellow siding over there. They just sneezed when the dog went by."

            "I guess Sitwell didn't take his allergy meds today," chuckled Clint.

            Fury swept into the room and called them back to the table.

            "You all did very well. I need you on a mission. It's a milkrun, yes, but it is a real mission. I want to see how you do. Sitwell will be the handler. Clint, you are going along as sniper and eyes up high. You'll all leave at 07:00 on Friday. First planning op will be tomorrow afternoon at 13:00 hours right here in this conference room. That is all."

            Fury swirled around and left the room. All the baby agents looked at each other and then at Clint.

            "Congratulations, first mission. I'm so proud of you. This is what you've been waiting for. Ok, tomorrow morning, we will dance through all the moves  we have, then spar with the Level 3 agents. After lunch, everyone will meet here. Seth, no extra food for you. Depending on how long the briefing is, we'll decide what to do after that. Thursday morning, we will do something different with the Level 3 agents and then there will probably be another briefing in the afternoon. For now, we are going back to people watching for the next hour.  And breathe."

            Clint grinned at them and handed out bottles of water. They were happy to sit and watch the people walking by. Traffic was heavy with afternoon rush hour.

            At 18:00 just as he was about to dismiss them, Clint noticed a lady in pink leave the building and walk up the street. There was a double click in the com unit still in his ear. Clint clicked back once.

            "Everyone is dismissed except for Angela. You are with me. The rest of you might want to do some jogging to loosen up a bit. We didn't get much exercise today. Don't forget to stretch, and yeah, it's been a strange day. See you all tomorrow."

            Clint left the building with Angela hurrying after him. She raised an eyebrow at him but he just grinned and motioned for her to follow. They hurried down the sidewalk for a block then turned down an alley.

            "Scrap of pink at the alley entrance?" she asked.

            "Correct, Agent Barry," said a new voice.

            Angela spoke without turning around, eyeing the reflection in a window further down the alley. "Aunt Phyllis, I never expected to see you here. Those shoes look fabulous on you and pink is definitely your color but you need to take smaller steps."

            The new voice growled at her, "I owed Fury a favor and he chose today to call it in, of course. Angela, I appreciate your discretion through multiple events today. You sacrificed your own status to protect mine. Barton, take her inside and find a table for a quick drink. I'm going to change before I'm damaged for life with these damn shoes. I'll be in shortly." He headed off to the parking lot behind the bar where he had left the car.

            Clint held out his arm to Angela. She took it and they walked together into the bar and found a table out of the way. Clint looked around the room and muttered,

            "He's going to hate this, everyone in here is SHIELD. Let's see if anyone saw him."

            "We can fix that," said Angela sitting down at an empty table. Clint's raised eyebrows made her eyes glint with mischief. Ten minutes later, Phil came in. Angela gushed loudly,

            "Sir, did you see Agent Blake outside? He was dressed up as a blond woman in a pink outfit. I love his shoes but he was having a hard time walking in them."

            Coulson replied, "He must have lost a bet or something. He'll have to practice walking more in those shoes. Take smaller steps or something. Better him than me." The noise level had fallen to nothing when Phil had come in and then went back to normal as other agents accepted this version of the truth and let it go in the absence of definitive proof.

            "I wonder how long that will take to get back to Blake," Clint snickered as Coulson sat down.

            "About 10 seconds," announced Fury as he came and sat at their table and looked at a message of protest on his phone, "I think that is a new record." He snapped his phone shut and put it away in an inner pocket of his leather coat and looked at Angela. "You did that well. It seems you have some knack for misdirection. You know how to use information judiciously. You are also a good leader for your little band of baby agents. You are now promoted to a Level 2 agent. Congratulations. Phil, you got the paperwork on that." Phil nodded.

            Angela sputtered a breathless, "Thank you, sir." Then she tilted her head at him, "Are you sure that's wise, sir? Seth is the one who noticed you watching us. We haven't even been on a mission yet. Can it wait until we come back?"

            Fury tilted his head and looked at her for a long minute, "As you wish."  A waitress brought their order of chicken wings and nachos with beers for Phil and Clint and a coke for Angela. Fury murmured a few words to the waitress and she hurried off. Phil wordlessly offered Fury his beer but Fury shook his head. The waitress came back with 4 shot glasses and a bottle of expensive whiskey. Fury poured all 4 shots. Time seemed to slow down.

            Raising a glass, he said, "It's been a good day." Phil and Clint each raised a shot glass and repeated "A good day". Angela raised her coke glass and repeated "A good day".  Fury's eyebrow raised. Angela shrugged. Fury nodded and they all drank the toast. Fury drank her shot glass of whiskey next and sighed.

            "Someday, Agent Barry."

            "I'll hold you to that, sir," Angela replied. Fury's phone rang and time sped up again. Fury rose with a hasty farewell cradling the bottle and was gone in a swirl of fancy leather.

            They looked at each other and grinned. Clint and Phil then competed with each other to tell her the most outrageous stories. Clint told funny stories from various declassified missions. Phil, using his driest senior agent voice, told them the strangest rumors that had ever swirled through SHIELD. Angela laughed at all their stories feeling warmer inside than she ever had before. When it was time to go, they found that Fury had paid the whole bill. Their quick drink had lasted for hours and it was now quite late.

            Phil drove them back to SHIELD to drop off Angela. Clint walked her to the front door and told her congratulations, again. Once inside, Angela waved from across the lobby as the elevator doors slid shut taking her to her floor. Clint turned back to jump in Phil's car. They headed for Phil's place, Clint was almost asleep in the car. They stumbled through the apartment together, each hurried through their bathroom rituals and collapsed into bed cuddling together. In seconds they were asleep.


	4. Learning New Skills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning new skills and preparing for a mission.

            At 04:00 on Wednesday morning, Clint groaned internally. He didn't want to wake up Phil that early. _Be a better friend, be a better agent_ he reminded himself. He kissed Phil's forehead and then got up quickly and headed for the shower. Doing his stretches and then shooting his bow this morning felt good. He hadn't gotten enough exercise yesterday. He worked his way through some speed drills trying to fit as much in as possible.

            When the baby agents arrived at 06:00, they were excited. Clint had promised to work them through some knife throwing exercises this morning and they knew they would get to see him throw. Most of them carried a knife for hand to hand combat that they had been taught in SHIELD academy. Most of them didn't want to throw away a knife so didn't really see a need for learning this facet.

            The first thing Clint did was unload all the knives he was carrying. There were 6 which was a light load.

            "There's nothing in the book that says you can only carry one knife," he advised them. "Yes, you never want to throw away your last knife, but you can make sure you are carrying more." He showed them places to carry knives that were invisible from the outside but were readily accessible to hand.

            In another area of the range he had set up two large sheets of plywood each with four life-sized people targets on it. The range master had supplied a box of old throwing knives for practice. Clint grabbed a handful of them and started juggling them. Then he stepped up to the throwing line and in a few motions had thrown a dozen knives hitting all of the targets in various places.

            "Notice that I did not aim for the ribs. You guys are new at this and it will bounce off the ribs unless you get it just right. Save that for hand to hand stuff. There are lots of places a knife will work. The big thing is to hit what you are aiming for and make it stick. Ok, guys, come give it a go."

            Seth actually carried 3 knives and had done this before. He hit the targets and made the knife stick but not always where he wanted to. Clint watched him closely and made suggestions that improved his aim right away. The others had various degrees of success. Leaving Seth at one end of the plywood to continue, Clint began teaching the basics of knife throwing to the rest of them. Clint checked the form on each of them and made suggestions as they threw. Abby, who had the best aim of all of them, was doing pretty well and catching up to Seth's level. Mike who had never thrown a knife before (but was very good at hand to hand combat with it) was getting more and more frustrated. Clint watched him quietly for a bit.

            "Mike, switch hands and throw it left-handed," Clint suggested. Mike changed hands and closed his eyes for a second going over all the instructions in his mind. Then he opened his eyes and threw the knife at the head of a target and it stuck exactly where it was supposed to go, into the eye socket. Mike looked at his hand as if it was from outer space or something. The rest of the baby agents cheered and hugged him. It was the first time his knife had stuck in instead of bouncing off. Then he looked at Clint with joy in his eyes. Clint laughed and said,

            "Yup, you are left handed apparently with knife throwing. Now do it again." The next throw didn't go where it was supposed to but it did stick into the plywood. Mike concentrated and kept working at it. All of the baby agents made progress.

            "Like shooting a gun," Clint advised, "throwing a knife is an ongoing skill. You will need a lot of practice to build up your skill set. And yes, you should be able to throw with both hands. You don't get to be good in a day or a week. It takes time and effort."  Clint checked the form of each of the other agents, making suggestions and helping them to improve. At 06:45, they collected all the range knives and helped the range master put away the sheets of plywood.

            When they got to the R&D Studio, there was a lovely smell of hot coffee and something else. Clint sniffed the air.

            "What is that?" he wondered out loud.

            "That smell is my mother's lucky scones, Agent Barton," said Agent Coulson. He had arranged a large coffee pot from the cafeteria to go with the scones.

            "When did you make these?" asked Clint.

            "This morning." replied Phil, smug little creases crinkling his eyes. Clint took a scone and bit into it. It was still hot and squished over his tongue spreading warm and delicious through his mouth. He moaned.

            "Oh, these are so good. Come on, everyone gets one." Clint motioned for everyone to line up. He looked at Phil with a sparkle in his eyes that said _thank you, these are so good, I want to kiss you right now._ Phil read the look and murmured,

            "I left some at home so we can take this up later, agent."

            "I know. Stay professional," Clint whispered.

            The Level 3 agents arrived and there were plenty of scones for them too. When Phil seemed to get a bit fidgety, Clint recognized it and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

            "Agent Coulson has to go, everyone say Thank you, Agent Coulson."   "Thank you, Agent Coulson," they all said in a sing-song voice. Phil smiled and waved and headed out the door.

            "Ok, everyone back to work. Stretches." Clint called out. The whole room was buzzing happily and everyone was working hard.

            They danced through all the fight moves they had. The Level 3 agents joined in where they could. They had been practicing hard also. The sparring was going well. The baby agents had learned a lot since they  started. Clint watched over them making suggestions where needed. When it was time for lunch, Clint held them back for a moment to make some announcements.

            "First of all, I want to thank the Level 3 agents for their help. Tomorrow morning we are doing something different. Each Level 3 agent will be paired with a baby agent as a mentor and you both will be following someone through the city. At the end of the exercise, the Level 3 agents will all be recertified. This afternoon, we have an ops briefing for the Friday mission. There will also be a briefing Thursday afternoon. For the future, Bob will have a video of all the fight moves and it will be available to all of you to use to keep up the muscle memory. You can access it here or on your laptops. The studio will always be available if any of you want to gather together and practice. I have enjoyed getting to know all of you. You have worked hard and I'm very proud of you. I wish you all the best. Stay safe out there. You are dismissed for lunch."

            They all ran for the door laughing. It sounded like the baby agents were showing the Level 3 agents where the Purple Hippo was. Clint was a bit sad. He didn't think they realized that they had just finished their last class with him. He would still see them around the building but he knew he would miss the intense class time they had shared. He headed to the cafeteria to get a sandwich. Halfway there, he changed his mind and headed to the range.

****

            At 13:00 they gathered in the third floor conference room. Agent Sitwell was the handler and presented the briefing. Information was projected on to the screen at the front of the room and they could follow along with their individual packets. Agent Sitwell outlined the mission objectives and everyone's role. It would be a simple milk run to hand over some information. Usually this was done with a dead drop but Fury wanted to see how they worked together out in the field.

            They would head to Boston on Friday morning. The meet was going to be in a park in the afternoon. The baby agents would be sprinkled around to keep an eye on things. Angela would meet the undercover agent and get the information.  Clint would be on the roof of an office building that bordered the eastern side of the park. Agent Sitwell's command center would be a van parked in the south parking lot. The part that would take the longest was the slow infiltration of all the other agents into the park and the slow exfiltration afterwards to keep any suspicions at bay. Their homework was to work on cover stories and props for the park that they could contribute at the next briefing.

            Before they were dismissed, Clint reminded them that they would meet the Level 3 agents at 07:00 in the original training room where Clint had found them. They all left talking excitedly. Clint and Jasper looked at each other.

            "Were we ever that young?" Jasper asked.

            "Yeah," Clint smirked. "About 3 years ago, but those were SHIELD years. You know how it is."

            Jasper laughed, "So what does that make you, like 82, 83?"

            "Fuck you, Jas, you're like 86. That's not much different." They laughed together as they gathered up their notes and left the conference room.

            Phil had left him a text that he was being pulled into an emergency meeting so Clint headed to the range. He wanted to put in more time with some large guns that he would be using on the op because the building roof was a bit far from the meet to use his bow. Stretching felt good after sitting in a conference room all afternoon. Hitting every mark felt even better.

*****

            At 04:00 on Thursday, Clint woke without the alarm. He sighed realizing this wakeup time had become habit.

            "Might as well make use of it," he said as he jumped out of bed. Today was going to be strange. Might as well keep up something familiar. Couldn't hurt. He wondered what Phil was up to. Last he heard, Phil was still working an op that had gone FUBAR. Clint didn't have any messages on his phone from Phil so the op had probably gone dark. _Typical SHIELD,_ he thought as he grabbed his clothes and headed for the shower.

            At 06:00 the baby agents showed up at the gun range. They were slowly getting better and forming good shooting habits. Now it was just a matter of practice to sharpen their skills. At 06:45 they gathered at the table to clean their weapons. After that, Clint walked with them to the gym. The Level 3 agents were already there.

            "Okay guys, good luck and do well," Clint said as he opened the gym door for them. "I'll see you this afternoon for the ops briefing." Lifted eyebrows were all that showed Angela's surprise. Then she hugged Clint and the rest of them did too in a giant group hug. They suddenly realized that their classes were ended. Clint let go of the door and touched the head of each agent around him in a silent benediction. They all let go and Angela opened the door and waved the others into the gym and smiled at Clint and followed them. Clint felt a twist in his gut. This felt like baby birds leaving the nest. He watched the door swing shut and went to the cafeteria for coffee.


	5. Brief Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Briefing and some revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Folks,  
> I don't believe in begging for Scooby snacks (I keep telling myself that.)but they sure are tasty.  
> Thank you all for your kudos and comments. I appreciate the time  
> you've taken to share your thoughts. Damn Ninjas!

            Out of habit Clint bought 2 cups of coffee and headed to Phil's office. The lights were off but the door was unlocked and he walked in. He was startled to see Phil in deep sleep on the sofa. Phil's phone was shrieking an alarm that Phil was sleeping right through. Clint put down the coffees and put his hand over Phil's ankle.

            "Damn Ninja," he said affectionately. Phil jumped to sit upright, blinking owlishly, the knife in his hand ready for business. He grabbed his phone and turned the alarm off and cringed at the time.

            "I was supposed to wake up an hour ago. Thank you for coming by and thank you for this." He put the knife away and took the coffee that Clint handed him and gulped down half of the cup in three quick swallows.

            "Anything I can do to help?" Clint asked, flicking on the light switch and sitting down next to Phil, rubbing his neck and shoulders while Phil inhaled the rest of his coffee.

            "Not sure yet," Phil murmured, "But you can keep that up for the next hundred years." Clint laughed and pulled Phil into a hug.

            "I missed you. I know it's only been a day or two but I sleep better when I'm with you." Phil hugged him back tightly.

            "I missed you too. I've been out of the office, actually out of the state, and just flew back about 4 am. It didn't seem worth it to go home. We have an agent missing and it's the same agent who is supposed to pass information to your agents on your little milk run. So I don't know if he will show up or what his circumstances are."

            "Okay, we definitely need more information. I'm not sending the baby agents into something like that blind," Clint said fiercely.

            "I know, I know. The rest of us are discussing how best to use the baby agents or if they should stand down. We don't currently have a full team available to take their place in this short of a window. Angela's name and picture were passed to the agent for the meet. If she's not there, he might not show. We might be able to draw out the bad guys if the agent is able to make it to the meet. Getting his information has become critical. Pulling him out of his undercover op might also be critical. We just don't have enough information. I'm preparing a better briefing for your meeting this afternoon. In the meantime, we hope to hear from the agent."

            "The Level 3 agents and the baby agents are on an exercise all around the city right now. Victoria Hand is running the joint exercise. When they come back, you can drag the Level 3's into this op and have them at the briefing. Maybe they can back up the baby agents at least or form an outer perimeter, or something. "

            Phil smiled sheepishly. "It shows how tired I am that I didn't think of that. I am late getting back but you have made it worthwhile. Thank you." Phil laid a kiss on his temple. "Sorry, morning breath. I have to go catch up with the others. I will see you at the briefing this afternoon." Phil looked down at his wrinkled shirt and pants and made a face. He pulled his suit jacket off the back of his chair and shrugged it on. Then he hugged Clint one more time and kissed his cheek. Clint handed him his own cup of coffee to take along as Phil left.

            Clint watched him hurry away. "Heh, I can fix that," he said to himself and hurried to the carpool to get a vehicle.

            At noon, Clint sent a text message to Phil, _Come to your office ASAP. Very important. Please hurry._ Within five minutes, Phil was walking in the door.

            "What's the big emergency, Clint?" Phil said.

            Clint motioned to the desk, "Come sit down. You need something hot to eat before the briefing." Phil's eyes lit up when he saw that his desk was set like a table and there was a platter of lasagna and a bowl of salad waiting.

            "You can't imagine how awesome this is right now. Thank you Clint." Phil sat down and starting eating. His eyes closed for brief seconds as he savored the flavors. His shoulders relaxed. Clint sat down to eat with him. It didn't take long for each of them to inhale two helpings of lasagna and chew through some salad.

            "I noticed that you didn't have a lot of suits left in your closet so I took a load to your dry cleaners." Phil's face took on a pinched look at Clint's words.

            "I actually planned to do that two days ago but it's been so busy. I'm sorry, you didn't have to do that."

            "Aw hey no, Phil. Don't be sad. I can help out sometimes. And fortunately you did have 2 clean suits left which I brought for you." Clint motioned to the suit bag hanging on the coat rack behind the office door. There was also a go bag sitting on the floor. I figured you'd want to shower and change before the briefing so you'll have to hurry but it's better than nothing." The smile on Phil's face was its own reward. Then Phil looked down at his wrinkled shirt and Clint could see the wheels turning in his head.

            "Of course, I also brought you a selection of shirts and ties. I'm no good at matching stuff so I brought a few choices. But you'll have to hurry if you want to make the briefing on time." Phil got up and walked around the desk and pulled Clint into a big hug and laid a kiss on him. When they were out of breath, he stepped back.

            "I know we said we would stay professional at work but this is above and beyond. Thank you. You have given me a miracle. _Damn Ninja_." Clint smiled back at Phil. Happiness eased Phil's tiredness and gave both of them new energy.

            Clint cleared the mess off the desk while Phil went to the locker room to shower and change. When they walked into the briefing, Phil looked like he'd been on a 2-week vacation. He was calm and confident, back to his old self with  a sharpness that had been missing before. Clint felt proud that he had been able to give him that.

            To everyone's surprise, Nick Fury was also at the briefing. When he stood, there was immediate quiet.

            "I'm here because this little milk run has become much more complicated. This is so we only have to go over all this once and to discuss options and next steps. Some parts of it are Need to Know only. Agent Coulson, bring us up to date."

            Phil stood and began to talk, "Agent Rupert Samms is a SHIELD scientist who has been working undercover at a shady drug company. What he was working on is classified to Level 4. He was actually making some breakthroughs on his project and was due to pass us the information that will allow us to take down the whole company. Some of the information is dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands. Three days ago, he was kidnapped and disappeared."

            There was a murmur through the group, then Phil continued, "The other six people working with him in the room were killed and their computers were smashed. The drug company decided they were in way over their heads and  called the FBI who called us because of what he was working on. Angela's name and picture had already been passed to Agent Samms for contact information for the meet up tomorrow. Currently we don't know his status. We don't know who took him.

            The FBI reports that someone by the name of Mendel Harrison…" Angela's startled gasp surprised everyone in the room. Phil looked at her but she shook her head. Phil picked up the briefing, "Mendel Harrison had threatened the CEO with blackmail the week before this incident. He demanded information about the project and a timeline as to when it would be complete. The CEO laughed at him and hung up. The truth is that the dangerous parts of the project were discovered accidently by Agent Samms and not intended to be part of the original research. Somehow part of the information was leaked and some bad ears perked up.

             We don't know if Agent Samms will be able to meet up tomorrow or if he has been compromised. We don't currently have a Level 4 team available to respond. So this little milk run has suddenly gotten a lot more dangerous. We don't know what will happen if Angela doesn't show. She may be compromised already. I don't want to send Level 1 agents into this kind of danger either but if Agent Samms is able to pass information to us, it may be the only copy of it left and must be protected.

So the next steps are to decide if the mission should continue, who will go, what can logically be expected to happen, all the things that can go wrong and how to handle them." Phil paused and looked at Angela.

            "I get the first question, huh?" Angela said. At Phil's nod, she continued, "So shady guys were doing shady stuff, our good guy was doing shady stuff undercover and discovered really bad stuff, and then really bad guys took our undercover good guy and are trying to steal the bad stuff?" Phil nodded again and Angela continued, "And this Mendel Harrison person, does he work for Lionel Garfield by any chance?"

            "And that's my cue," Fury spoke up. "Mendel Harrison used to work for a slumlord named Lionel Garfield as a low level enforcer, rent collector, general all-around knee breaker type of guy until he graduated by putting 2 slugs in the back of Garfield's head and went into business for himself. Of course, there is no proof. Garfield is at the head of a very long list of alleged kills that no one can prove. We don't know if Harrison is working for himself now or for someone higher up and Angela, how did you know Garfield?"

            "When I was seven years old, we lived in one of Garfield's apartments. He had Harrison toss us out for no reason except he could raise the rent a lot with new tenants," Angela explained. "And by toss, I mean that my mother had 10 minutes to pack a suitcase and the rest of our stuff was tossed out the third story window and burned on the front lawn. The police were not interested in our problem. And if he is behind this, then I want in. If we can help Agent Samms, you have to let me do the meet. He already has my picture." She looked at the team around her, "The rest of the Level 1 agents should probably stand down if it's that dangerous. I don't want them to be hurt."

            "Angela, you belong to us," said Valerie jumping to her feet, "You are not going in there alone." The rest of the baby agents also stood up and they all folded their arms over their chests in a tough-guy stance.

            "Besides," Seth put in, "this is a college town. We are the right age to be in the park. No one will look at us twice. We can just do what we originally planned to do. We don't know how many bad guys will show up. We can act like scared college students. They might underestimate us. Maybe we can take out some of them in the bushes. And we have Agent Barton. It seems like we would have the element of surprise."

            "And the Level 3 agents can provide backup and form an outer perimeter. Maybe limit the civilian traffic," Jasper chimed in.

"That  sounds like something to start with," declared Fury. "Sitwell, you will be in charge of the Level 3 agents and set up the outer perimeter. Coulson, you will be in charge of the Level 1 agents for the meet. Barton, you will still be on the rooftop as sniper and eyes up high." And with that, Fury left the room.

            "Okay, everyone sit down, and Agent Sitwell, please bring me up to date on the original plans you made for the meet," requested Coulson. And the briefing went on.


	6. Mission Op 1-Baby Agents Are Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the mission op starts. Level 3s and Baby Agents...Will they find Agent Samms?

            Angela looked around her at the others on the plane. It was a large SHIELD plane. They had two teams and four vehicles. Half of the Level 3 agents were in black tac gear and the other half were in camo outfits. _Crowd control_ and the _sneak patrol_ , she thought to herself. Her group were all in jeans, sneakers, and hoodies or sweatshirts from the local college. They were playing with frisbees and other props they brought along and there were two of the most big-ass cooler chests she'd ever seen. With wheels. They didn't look like agents. Fortunately they were all wearing their kevlar underwear. She didn't want to lead her group into danger before they were ready for it. Mendel Harrison was a loose cannon. She nervously went back to crocheting the scarf she was working on. It was part of her undercover prop. It was almost done. Just a couple more rows. Her fingers worked on their own as she went over the plans in her mind.

            Once on the ground, the plane taxied to a private area where the plane would stay until the mission was complete. There was an exit they could drive out that meant they didn't have to try to get through all the traffic on the other side of the airport. And it was closer to the park.

            Agent Coulson gathered them for a final briefing. They all had comms in and did a final sound check. And then off to the park. The local police chief had been briefed but would let them handle it and would only respond if they needed arrest transport.

            The first two out to the park were Valerie and Eddy. They were posing as a couple on a date. They had one of the big-ass cooler chests loaded with a picnic. They would hang out on a blanket and play chess or read, and then eat their picnic lunch and keep an eye on things.

            The next one out was Abby who stopped at the ice cream vendor to get some ice cream and then sat on a bench to read her kindle.

            The next one out was Angela with a large tote bag. She chose a park bench and draped her fuzzy blanket over it and sat cross-legged and picked up her crocheting to continue. She had completed the scarf and started a new one just to have something to keep her hands busy.

            The next ones out were Johnny, Mike, Clint and Victor who pulled the other big-ass cooler chest with him and parked it behind Angela's bench. Clint was dressed in camo and with a quick movement ducked under the park bench. With the blanket on one side and the cooler chest on the other, it was a good hiding spot for him. He had decided he didn't want to be so far away from them as the office building. Sitwell had brought another sniper who would be eyes up high. The guys were rowdy and loud and opened the chest to get out sodas and water and pass several guns to Clint along with the broken down parts of a very large gun. They spread out and started a very loud game of frisbee.

            The last one out was Seth who wandered down by the lake and had a bag of bread to feed the ducks.

            "Hey Seth, are you eating the duck's bread?" Angela said over the comms.

            "No, I brought a couple of donuts for me inside the bread bag. I didn't get breakfast this morning," said Seth.

            Abby snorted, "I saw you wrapped around that giant omelet this morning."

            "Let's just say I didn't get *enough* breakfast this morning," Seth clarified.

            Coulson cleared his throat and quietly took command.

            "Alright, everyone is in place. Carl is eye in the sky. Sitwell and I both hear him. Let us know if you see something, Carl. Valerie and Eddy, you keep up your normal conversation but I'm putting you on a different channel. I will hear you but the rest of the group will not. No more comm chatter. Just keep acting like college students. Frisbee guys, I'm putting you on a different channel also so keep up your chatter. Sitwell and the others are on a different channel but I can hear Sitwell. The meet time is in 15 minutes so for now just look busy."

            Five minutes before the scheduled time, two men stepped out of the woods behind Abby and started walking across the grass. Valerie spotted them and cuddled up to Eddy and whispered in his ear that there were two coming in. Coulson alerted the others immediately. Angela waited until they were close to her then pushed her current project into her hoodie pocket, jumped up, grabbed the scarf and ran to Agent Samms and hugged him.

            "Uncle Rupert, it's so good to see you." She air-kissed both cheeks and he surreptitiously tapped the side of her ear. She stood back from him and said to him in a scolding voice, "Tell me you are coming to the family reunion in May? How many of your family can you bring this year? Is Jimmy home from college? Ah, look at me, I'm not even letting you get a word in edgewise."

            Rupert smiled, "You are such a welcome sight, little one. Yes, to the reunion in May and I'm bringing 10, and if Jimmy is home then 11, maybe 12. You never know."

            Valerie quietly said, "That's a Mayday, Rupert is compromised. Someone else has ears on this conversation and there are possibly a dozen or more bad guys in the woods." Coulson passed the info to the rest of the group.

            Angela gasped, "Does Jimmy have a girlfriend? I never thought that would happen. Oh my god, wait till my mother hears that. That is so cool. Oh wait, I made a scarf for you. Here."

            Angela fluffed out the scarf and flipped it over Rupert's head onto his neck. He slipped a thumb drive down the front of her v-neck shirt and tucked it into her bra. Angela continued to fuss over him and wrapped the scarf around his neck and also zipped up her hoodie.

            "Oh, I'm sorry, I've been so rude. Who is your friend here?" Angela looked at the man with the cold eyes.

            "This is Mendel Harrison, a work colleague, Mendel, this is my niece, Angela," said Rupert.

            "Hello, Mr. Harrison, it's nice to meet you. What kind of work do you do?" Harrison ignored the hand she held out politely and just growled at Rupert.

            "Uncle Rupert," Angela said coyly, "I was hoping to take you out to lunch. I'm just a poor college student. I didn't know you were going to bring a friend." She tapped his arm playfully but the look of pain that crossed his face alarmed her.

            Uncle Rupert, what's the matter?"

            "It's nothing child, I fell this morning and hurt my arm. I was hoping to see a doctor as soon as we were done visiting."

            "Of course, I understand completely. Oh, wait, what is this?" Angela pulled a thumb drive out of her hoodie pocket and held it up, "Did you just put this in my pocket? What's happening, Uncle Rupert?"

            Harrison's face turned ugly.

            "Give me that, you stupid twit." He snatched it out of Angela's hand. While he did that, Angela pulled the tranq gun out of her other pocket and shot him with it. He dropped like a stone. She jumped on his back and pulled the ball of wool out of her pocket. Quickly wrapping it around his neck 5, no 7 times, she broke the strand and tied the ends together. Then she pulled out her trusty crochet hook and slipped it under the yarn and twisted it into a tourniquet around his neck.

            "Angela, get off him and let me take him out," said Clint over the comms.

            Angela pulled her sweatshirt over her face for a few seconds hoping the fabric would muffle her words from Harrison's 'ears'. "No, this one is mine. There are about a dozen more men around here. Stay alert everyone. And they are listening to us." Then she said loudly, "Oh, he must be having a heart attack. I can do CPR. Someone call 911."  Angela kept twisting and let her mind go back to that horrible day…


	7. Mission Op 2-...and one for Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the mission.

            Angela kept twisting the crochet hook tourniquet and let her mind go back to that horrible day…

_…Angela skipped home from school. It had been a good day. Her second grade teacher was so nice and had given her an A on her art project. She had drawn a picture of Jack, her teddy bear. He was her best friend. He was older than she was. Daddy had bought him for her before she was even born. She loved hearing that story. Jack had come from France. It was across a big ocean. Mommy showed it to her on the map. Daddy had been there on business and had just enough room to fit Jack in his luggage on the way home._

_She heard some loud shouting as she got closer to home. Mommy and Daddy were out front shouting but the landlord, Mr. Garfield and another big man,  were holding on to Daddy. The windows of their apartment were open and her favorite blanket came falling out the window. She looked at Mommy who held out her arms to her and motioned to come quick. She ran to Mommy's arms confused. Mr. Garfield took out a lighter and lit her blanket and threw it on the rest of their stuff on the front lawn. It made a horrible crackling noise and more pieces caught on fire._

_"Hey Mendelson, ain't you done yet?" Mr. Garfield shouted up at the open window._

_"It's Mendel Harrison, you ass and there's just one more thing." Harrison dangled Jack in front of the window. Angela screamed. Harrison laughed._

_"Wassamatter, you want your teddy bear?" he taunted. Angela held out her arms and stepped forward. Harrison laughed and ripped the bears head off and threw it at Angela. It hit her hard enough to knock her down. Harrison threw Jack's body into the bonfire laughing the whole time. Angela picked up Jack's head and hugged it…_

_"_ …and one for Jack, and one for Jack…" Angela whispered over and over as her busy fingers kept twisting.

            In the meantime, the frisbee guys had pretended to lose the frisbee in the woods and were 'searching' for it. They found and tranqed four men in the bushes and zip tied their hands together. Another man had come around the other side of the lake. Seth backed up still feeding the ducks and they followed him in a line. The man tried to get through the ducks and Seth threw a bunch of bread at the guy's feet. The ducks quacked louder and chased the bread in panic mode. The guy was off balance and Seth could see the gun holster under the jacket. He grabbed the gun and pushed the guy gracefully into the lake. The guy got up and tried to rush Seth who shot him with a tranq gun as soon as he hit dry land. He fell in a nice little puddle of goose poop.

            Another man came out of the woods behind Abby. He was holding a gun pointed up in the air and looking over at Seth then he stretched out his arm  getting ready to fire. He ignored Abby and as soon as he was past her, she shot him with a tranq gun. She caught him as he fell. He had a surprised look on his face and then a resigned look. His mouth tried to form an F word but it was too late. Abby rolled him under her bench and took his gun. Then said quietly over the comms,

            "Coulson, I have another bad guy. I shot him with a tranq gun. I think I rolled his face into a giant spider web under my bench. I don't have any zip ties. I like his gun, can I keep it?"

            Agent Coulson directed a strategic withdrawal.

            "I saw the take down. He had a bead on Seth. We'll review the gun thing later, Abby, head for the south parking lot for now. Sitwell will pick up your present. They are in that part of the woods right now and have eyes on your prize. Valerie and Eddy, follow her in five minutes. That will give you time to pack your picnic. Remember to use different pathways. We have a tranqed one by the lake. Frisbee guys, grab Seth's guy and add him to yours. Sitwell will meet you and get you back to the plane. Assist his group with handling the prisoners. Share water and zip ties with him then have Seth take the cooler chest. Local PD will provide prisoner transport to our plane. Their truck  is on the way. ETA fifteen minutes. This is still a live op, people. Keep the visible parts of the park clear. Stay in the bushes. Seth, please get Agent Samms out of sight and help him to the south parking lot. Take the cooler chest with you. Get him some water. He is definitely injured and may have a broken arm. Keep him away from the others and see if he is wired before you say anything to him. Sitwell's group has six in custody. We have five plus a body.  Barton will handle Angela.

            Clint climbed out from under the park bench and approached Angela who was still whispering and twisting the crochet hook. He gently stooped down in front of her and put both hands on her face. She jumped as she startled out of her trance and her eyes were fearful for a second until she saw it was him. She tapped the side of Harrison's ear to show that there were still people listening. Clint nodded then spoke out loud.

            "If he's not breathing then I think he's dead."

            "I know. I'm just trying to revive him. I didn't want to quit CPR too soon but I think you're right," she said, "So how long do you think it will take the authorities to get here. Like twenty minutes?" She nodded at him.

            "Yeah, probably twenty minutes. I saw a couple people calling them."

            "Good, because Uncle Rupert put some kind of thumb drive in my pocket and when I pulled it out, Mr. Harrison grabbed it. I think he had a heart attack or something and fell. I don't know what happened to it after that. We can come look for it later, right?"

            "Sure, no problem. What was on it?"

            "I don't know. Uncle Rupert didn't say. He's been writing a book. It might have been a part of his manuscript or something. I'm sure he'll want it back. Anyway, I'm starving. You think we can get a burger or something?"

            "Yeah, come on, kid. It'll be my treat. I know you college kids don't have much money." 

            Angela stood up taking her crochet hook out of the loop and the tightly twisted wool puffed out hiding the ligature marks. Clint put an arm around her and they went back to the bench to get her tote bag. Clint had already folded her fluffy blanket and stuffed it in the tote bag along with some of his extra handguns. She added her crochet hook and the wool and just took a deep breath. Clint made motions to her that she should go back to the south parking lot. He and the big gun were going up a tree. She nodded and headed off. Barton was already halfway up the tree. Then Coulson's comforting voice was in her ear.

            "Well done, Angela. Barton is up a tree and told me what the deal is. Carl has eyes on three more coming this way. Are you close to the south parking lot?"

            Angela knocked on the back of the van and opened the door, "Is that close enough for you sir?" she said, hopping into the van and shutting the door then sitting in the nearest chair. Coulson handed her a bottle of water which she opened and started guzzling right away listening to Coulson give instructions to the groups in the bushes. She put the lid back on and looked at him with mischief in her eyes.

            Agent Coulson looked at her. "You know something," he accused.

            "Tell Barton not to kill these guys right away. I put one of my comms in Harrison's shirt pocket. Two can play at that game. And the fake thumb drive has a GPS tracker in it. I think it's under his body but I don't know for sure. If they find it, we can see where it goes. If not, then capture these guys."

            "Barton, did you hear that?" said Coulson.

            "Yes and she keeps surprising me. To think that Sykes wanted to throw out all these great little baby agents."

            "I think I can get Fury to double his time in Greenland," said Coulson with a laugh. Then he looked at Angela again. Her eyes were still twinkling.

            "More?" he said. Angela put her finger on her lips and then motioned between the two of them and mouthed the word Only. Coulson nodded. Angela pulled down the zipper of her hoodie and retrieved the thumb drive from her bra and presented it to Coulson with a tiny smile. His eyes lit up and he quickly put it inside a suit jacket pocket. Angela opened her water and let the cool liquid slide down her throat.

            "Angela, who's Jack?" Coulson asked gently. Angela's eyes smarted and she couldn't look at Coulson for a minute. Then she got control of herself and unzipped her hoodie again. She retrieved a small chunk of material from her bra, then smiled,

            "Bank of Angela is a handy thing to have." She unfolded the material, kissed it then laid it out until it was flat. "This is Jack." At Coulson's confused look, she continued, "When Garfield and Harrison tossed us out, the last thing Harrison found was my teddy bear, Jack. My father bought him for me before I was born when he was on a business trip to France. Jack was my best friend. I screamed when Harrison held him up. He ripped Jack's head off and flung the body in the fire. He threw Jack's head at me hard enough to knock me down. My mother wouldn't let me keep the whole head. She helped me cut out this face so it would be flat and be able to stay with me. That's why it had to be me today. For Jack."  Coulson was out of his chair and grabbed her into a hard hug.

            "Oh Angela, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You poor little sweetie." Angela hugged him and patted his back.

            "No pity, sir. I'm a big girl now. I'll probably need a shit ton of psychoanalysis when we get back but I just fixed a major sticking point in my life. And I'm not sorry." Coulson stepped back to look at her with awe.

            "You are going to be a fabulous agent."

            "From your lips to God's ears," she said with a sad little smile. "I'm just trying to not drown in the deep end of the ocean. What are you doing, sir?" Coulson had his phone out and took a picture of Jack.  The little face was sitting on a ruler.

            "I want to remember Jack too if that's ok with you."

            "Sure, although now that Jack has had his revenge, I'm not sure I should keep carrying him with me." But she folded him up and put him away.

            "Then he can help you celebrate the victories." Coulson put his phone away and sat down to watch the screens again. There were three men edging toward Harrison's body talking quietly. One of them flipped him over.

            "Do you see it? The thumb drive?"

            " Williams is going apeshit over it."

            "Hurry, we only have a few minutes till the cops get here."

            "Ooo, there!"

Coulson gave new directions, "Barton, tranq two of those guys and let whoever is holding the drive get away. Don’t make it easy. Let him think he escaped. Give him a souvenir or two.

            "With pleasure, sir," Barton replied. Then a few minutes later,

            "Two down and one on the run. Sitwell just picked up the sleepers along with the body. Heading back." Barton reported.

            Coulson called Fury to make his report. When he got to the part about the name of Williams, Fury crowed. Turns out there was already a group of agents tracking Williams and the fact that there was now a GPS tracker headed that way made Fury happy.  So their part was finished and they could all head home. Coulson called Sitwell to update him. The local PD was assisting with loading up the prisoners and would take them to the airport. Uncle Rupert had been taken to a local clinic and now had a purple cast on his arm. SHIELD Medical would evaluate him when they got home. They would all meet back at the plane.

            When Seth got out of the SUV, he ran up the ramp looking for Abby. He pulled her into a hug. She could feel him trembling.

            "We did it big guy," she said gently, still hugging him tight.

            "You saved my life." he said.

            "You ate Brussels sprouts and syrup in mashed potatoes for me. I couldn't ignore that. No one gets to you on my watch," she said with a fierce growl. They both laughed, nervous, unable to let go. Other baby agents joined the hug. In a little bit, Seth raised his head,

            "Thanks, guys. I'm okay, now. Good thing we can get a discount rate on shrinks." No one moved. "We should help move the prisoners." Huffing a bit, they parted and moved off to assist.

            Later when Angela got out of the last SUV to the plane, Rupert Samms was waiting for her.

            "My dear girl, you saved my life," he said as he pulled her into a hug. "I can't thank you enough. And I love my scarf. And my cast matches it, too. I am your servant for life." He looked deep into her eyes and raised his eyebrows. She nodded and he kissed her cheek and hugged her again.

            "Oh erm, maybe just a Christmas card would do it." Angela said in a bashful voice. "And it wasn't just me. It was the whole team. I'm just glad you are okay Uncle Rupert. We'll still have to do lunch. There's a lovely place near the office called The Purple Hippo. I think you would like it."

            "It sounds perfect. Yes, we will get together. But for now we still have work to do, yes?" He flipped the end of the scarf over one shoulder.

            Oh yes, the baby agents found out all about writing reports. Coulson coached them himself because he said he wanted them to learn correctly and to ignore anything that Agent Barton had to say on the subject. Barton's sad face made them laugh until Coulson said,

            "Barton, your last report was written in crayon which is NOT acceptable."

            "Gotta keep you on your toes, sir," said Barton. Coulson was not amused. He used a thousand yard stare on Barton until Clint melted into puppy mush and yelped, "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm typing, I'm typing." The baby agents all stared at them. Yes, it was very instructive.

            When they reached HQ, Fury himself sat with the baby agents and Coulson and Barton to debrief them. He wanted to hear the tale directly. Angela did most of the talking and each of the agents jumped in with information along the way. Angela was shocked when she heard that Seth had been in the line of fire. Abby made a hand signal at her that meant she would tell her about it later. At the end, Fury praised them for doing a job above and beyond his expectations and announced that Angela was promoted to Level 2 and that they all had special merit notations put into their files. He even allowed Abby to keep the gun. The room hummed with their happy responses. Then Barton showed Coulson an email he had just gotten and Phil stood up.

            "I know you all deserve a rest right now but a problem has come up that I think you all can help fix. Are you up for it?" They looked at each other and little grins broke out. They were still riding an adrenaline high. They all shouted YES. Coulson got a big grin on his face.


	8. Dougie? Is That You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dougie is trying to be a wet blanket. Phil thinks he has angelic qualities.  
> The Baby Agents celebrate.

            "I know you all deserve a rest right now but a problem has come up that I think you all can help fix. Are you up for it?" They looked at each other and little grins broke out. They were still riding an adrenaline high. They all shouted YES. Coulson got a big grin on his face.

            "Okay, this is mostly about a show of force. Everyone go shower and dress in your black tac suits and be back here in thirty minutes, or less. Barton, that means you and me too." There was a rush for the door and Fury's eyebrows shot up. Coulson explained quickly, "My ex, Dougie is being a pain in the ass at our favorite watering hole and they sent an SOS. We will fix the problem and stay to celebrate. You may come along if you wish, sir." Fury smiled

            "Not this time but I'll round up your transportation. Go." Barton was walking out the door and tapping out a message on his phone at the same time.

            In twenty-two minutes they were loaded into two black SHIELD SUVs and on their way to the Steaming Libation. Phil briefed them as they drove. When they got there, Phil and Clint led the team through the maze and into the bar. As they strode through the place, the patrons looked up. They had everyone's attention. The barkeep looked at Barton and his face lit up.

            "Hawk, thank god you're here. He's in the Dart Room." Barton nodded his head and led the team into the next room. Doug was there with a handful of darts and was shouting about how unfair it all was. Around him were three broken chairs and a broken table. He started throwing darts at them. Clint caught the darts or batted them down. Slowly they approached and surrounded him. The baby agents folded their arms into a tough guy stance. Phil stood relaxed and  addressed Doug.

            "Dougie. I believe you've been asked to leave." Doug looked at him and sneered,

            "Oh, you gonna hide behind a whole team now?"

            "Not necessary. Stand down agents." Everyone took a couple of steps back. Some of them grabbed the broken furniture and took it out to the dumpster, cleaning up the mess. Barton and Coulson stayed in front of Doug. Angela casually sauntered over to Phil's side and under his arm.

            "Uncle Phil, are you going to teach us how to kill someone with a paperclip? Please?" She was almost bouncing in place. Phil hugged her to his side.

            "Technically that was Hawk…" said Phil. Barton jumped in,

            "…But you did that one with the paperclip and the cufflink…"

            "But I'm not wearing any cufflinks…"

            "And I don't have a paperclip on me."

            "I guess Angela will have to fill in for us. Seth, would you call a taxi, please. Dougie will need one to go to the hospital." Seth started dialing. Doug snorted.

            "You think you can scare me? I can mop the floor with her. Crack her tiny little sparrow bones. It'll be fun." Phil stepped over to a table and picked up the salt shaker and tossed it to Angela.

            "Don't kill this one, just make him an angel."

            "My pleasure sir." Angela ducked under Doug's wild swing and slammed the salt shaker into his ribs. There was a loud crack. With a graceful swirl she had Doug's arm twisted behind him and smacked the back of his upper arm with the salt shaker. There was another loud crack and she let him go. She nodded to Victor and Mike who immediately manhandled him out of the bar.

            "The pain will hit him in two, maybe two and a half minutes. He will need one of those big over-the-head casts and the strut for that will lean right on his broken rib."

            "Well done, little sparrow," said the barkeep. "Please, all of you, stay for a drink, on the house." Phil and the barkeep went into a huddle over food. Clint went to look at the music list. When a very familiar country song blared over the loudspeaker, the baby agents shouted with glee. They hurriedly moved one table over and lined up in the familiar formation with Clint. They stepped through the moves of the line dance for three repetitions. When Clint hollered for the change, Phil nudged the barkeep and said, "Watch this."

            They changed into the basic fight moves and everyone was in perfect synch. In their black tac suits, it was a stirring sight. The barkeep's mouth hung open. Phil spoke with pride,

            "These are the baby agents. We are celebrating their first mission." The barkeep clapped him on the back.

            "They are doing well but they look hungry. We can fix that." And he hurried off to put in their order. When the music died down they pulled a couple tables together so they could all sit at the same table. The waitress hurried over to get their drinks order. Phil tapped his knife against a salt shaker to bring them to order.

            "I just want to say how proud I am of all of you. You all did well individually and you worked well together. So relax, the food and drinks are on Barton and I  and will be here in a few minutes. Enjoy the amenities. There are pool tables in the other room. I'm also hoping Clint will favor us with a dart exhibition. And don't challenge him to a game of anything. You will lose. Just have a good time kids."  They all cheered and clapped.

            Then food arrived and they all dug in. They had an excellent time. Clint did indeed provide a dart exhibition that was amazing. He even made Angela stand sideways in front of the dart board and did an outline of her profile in darts. She kept her eyes closed afraid that she would flinch automatically. When he was done and she backed away from the dartboard, it was still recognizable as her. She pulled out her phone and took a picture.

            Angela went over to where Seth and Abby were talking. They told her what happened. It was a scary moment in the middle of a happy celebration. It was priceless experience for all of them for future missions. Then Seth challenged Clint to a pool game knowing he would lose but also knowing it would be a fun experience. He lost before he ever got his turn. Watching Barton run the table was a delight all on its own. Several hours later, they left and headed for their bunks, tired, happy and exhausted.

            Clint went to bed worried. He didn't sleep long and woke with a nagging feeling about Doug.


	9. Finding Their Future in the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint is checking on some possible Dougie Shenanagans

            Clint went to bed worried. He didn't sleep long and woke with a nagging feeling about Doug. If Doug was still being a problem at the bar, were there other ways that Doug was causing Phil grief? It was time to find out. He left a note for Phil that he had some errands to run and headed out in his car. To the flea market Phil had taken him to on their first adventure.

            Clint wandered around the flea market getting a feel for the place. Phil's favorite vendor was not due here for another two or three months but the tent setup was still there. When Clint stepped in, there was a very familiar sight. The poster that sent him off the deep end was displayed behind the cash register. He got the attention of the guy behind the counter and said,

            "I thought you guys wouldn't be back for another few months." The guys eyebrows went up but he answered,

            "That's my partner Harry. I'm always here. Harry finds the best things to sell but someone has to be here to sell them, right?"

            "Right. Can I see that poster on the wall?" The guy handed him the poster and Clint turned it toward the guy and held it up next to his face.

            "My name is Clint Barton but some people know me as Hawkeye." The guy squinted at him then shook his head.

            "Yeah, it sorta looks like you. Prove it."

            Clint let a big smile out, "I get that. I was twelve in the poster. Choose a weapon, choose a target."

            The guy said, "Are you serious? My name is Lou by the way."

            "Yes, Lou. Choose a weapon, choose a target."

            Lou picked up a knife and pointed to a balloon that was loose at the top of the tent.

            "That damn balloon is bugging me. Can you please make it go away?"

            Clint advised, "But the knife will make a hole in the canvas. You don't need rain coming in, right? Can you reach that post card for me?" As Lou reached for the post card, Clint flicked the knife into the post card so it was between Lou's thumb and index finger. Then he picked up a dart from a box on the counter and flicked it up to the balloon. When it fell, he presented it to Lou with the flat balloon still hanging on the dart. Clint flicked another dart over at the wooden board behind the cash register. Lou's mouth hung open when he saw the fly neatly skewered on the dart.

            "That fly was bugging me. And I'll buy the post card so you don't lose any merchandise."

            "Hell no," declared Lou. "That's the damndest thing I've ever seen. I'm keeping it and the knife right there. Imagine that, the real Hawkeye in my shop."

            "Do you have a few minutes? Can I buy you lunch? I have some questions about a Captain America card."

            Lou called another worker over to take his spot and came around the counter to meet Clint.

            "So Lou, where is the best spot for lunch here?" Lou waved him to follow and led the way down a couple of aisles to another tent. Entering it, he called out,

            "Hey Margie, two Reubens with Coke, please."

            "Coming," came a singsong voice from the back. Lou led the way to a table and motioned Clint to sit down.

            "It's nice and quiet here and we can talk." Margie came out from the kitchen with two cokes and set them down and added straws then hurried away again. Before they finished unwrapping their straws, Margie was back with two enormous Reuben sandwiches.

            "Wow," said Clint, "that looks fantastic. Thank you." Margie smiled and headed back to the kitchen. Lou picked up his sandwich and took a big bite.

            "Do you know the name Phil Coulson?" Clint asked. Lou froze for a few seconds then laid his sandwich down and glared at Clint,

            " Are you going to make me sorry I brought you here? Phil's been a customer for many years but ever since he got engaged to that Doug guy…I don't know any more."

            "No, I'm going to set the record straight because you've been fed a pack of  lies by an abusive asshole named Doug. And they were never engaged. Phil would be horrified if he knew." Clint told him the whole history of Phil and the search for Card 34, of Phil and Doug's relationship, the reason for their breakup,  the court thing, and the fact that Doug had destroyed Card 34 resulting in the restraining order.

            "And here," Clint said pulling the plastic sleeve from his pocket, "See this little half face right here? That is Phil Coulson's grandfather. This card played such a huge part of Phil's entire life. His father and grandfather searched for it but could never find it." Lou was looking at the card and making sympathetic noises.

            "So my big question is…Is Doug still bothering you? I was worried.  He seems to still be trying to muck up Phil's life. We tossed him out of our favorite bar last night. He now has a broken rib and a broken arm."

            Lou laughed. "Oh, that couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

            "We're just now finding out about the stuff he's doing behind the scenes and I was worried about you guys," said Clint.

            "Wait, you didn't come here looking for the card? You came here to make sure we were okay?" said Lou, "Yeah, he calls weekly wanting to know if we found the card yet."

            "He wants to make sure that Phil never ever gets his hands on his dream card," Clint said bitterly. "I think the easiest way to handle this is to tell him that you found the card and Phil bought it. Then he has no reason to hassle you. I just wish it could be true. I think Phil has given up ever getting another card and is just trying to be satisfied with the torn up pieces," Clint finished wistfully. Lou kept eating but had a thoughtful look on his face.

            Clint dug into his sandwich too. It was really good. Margie came back out to see if they needed more soda. Clint pulled some bills out of his pocket and handed them to Margie with thanks. Her eyes opened wide with surprise and she started to hand it back. Clint just closed her hand around it and winked at her. She smiled and headed back to the kitchen.

            Clint looked back at Lou and said, "By the way, I want to buy one of the circus posters when we get back. Where did you get them?"

            Lou poked the last of his sandwich into his mouth and smiled. "Harry gets around and the acquisition of the circus posters also came with a promise that we can now fulfill. What made you leave the circus?"

            Clint stopped to take a deep breath. "My mentor Trickshot and my brother Barney beat me up and stabbed me and left me for dead in a ditch, because I tried to stop them from stealing from the circus. The circus moved on without me and I had nothing. I was 16."

            Lou put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "I'm sorry I had to do that. I needed to know that the details jibed with the story I was told." Clint nodded.

            "It was a long time ago, seems like several lifetimes."

            "Come on," said Lou, "I have something to show you." They headed back to the vendor tent. Lou was whistling and almost skipping. When they got there, Lou pulled Clint with him around the counter.

            "Okay, first things first." Lou opened a box on the counter and took out a plastic sleeve. Clint's eyes got big.

            "Is that…?"

            "Oh yeah, babe, this is Card 34, mint condition, and I will let you buy it." The price he named was very reasonable and Clint pulled out his wallet and handed his credit card over at once. Lou laughed at the amazed look on Clint's face.

            "We've been holding this until we found out the truth. Now I don't have to lie to Doug and he will stop hassling us." Clint signed the receipt and tucked the card and his receipt into the inner pocket of his jacket.

            "Thank you. You have no idea what this means to us. Well maybe you have a small idea now." Clint laughed as he felt his face get red.

            "Ah but I'm not done with you yet. Close your eyes." Clint looked at Lou. He saw Lou's eyes alight with happiness so he complied. He could tell that Lou was lifting something bulky onto the counter. "Okay, open your eyes."

            Clint opened his eyes to see a long skinny case. Lou opened the lid. The item in it made Clint's hands shake and his heart pound. His hand flew to his mouth and then gently reached out to touch the old bow.

            "Oh my god, Betsy! Where did you find her? This is amazing. This was my first bow. The same one that's in the poster. I had no idea she even existed still. Oh." Clint plopped down on the stool behind the counter and looked up at Lou and his eyes welled up. "This is my card 34 and I didn't even know." He got up and hugged Lou. "How much? I'll pay any price."

            "Oooo, tempting, but no. This is the promise we made when we bought the posters from some old lady out in Idaho. Somehow she knew you would come to us and made us promise to give you this when you became known to us. She died shortly after that from what Harry can find out. But we promised. So it's all yours."

            "Gypsy Rose, it has to be her. Her real name is Lily Rose. She's the only one that would have cared enough to do this. We always believed in each other." Clint plunked down on the stool again in shock. Lou laughed and grabbed one of the circus posters and put it in a cardboard tube and put it in with the bow and closed the cover.

            "This has been a very satisfying day for me, Clint. I'm so glad you came here today. You will have to visit again when Harry is here. I know he will want to meet you too." Clint got up and hugged Lou again. Then he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down his name and phone number.

            "You let me know if Dougie is still bothering you and I will fix it. And yeah, I can't wait to share all this with Phil. Thank you, Lou. You are my most favorite vendor ever."

            Lou laughed and patted his shoulder, "Yeah, next time I'm gonna charge you double." Clint laughed and picked up the bow case and made his way back to the car. The drive seemed to fly by. Once he got close to home, he called Phil to find out where he was.

            "I'm in the grocery store parking lot. I need some breakfast type foods. Where are you?" Clint got a really cool idea. They could add to the celebration.

            "I finished the errands I had to do and I was thinking. We should have the baby agents come over to my place for dinner. Dr. York suggested a dinner party with all the food in the freezer so this is just what the doctor ordered. We would just need some salad stuff, enough to feed the gang? And maybe something for dessert. I have plenty of stuff in the freezer for dinner. What do you think?"

            "That sounds like fun, Clint. And we still have off tomorrow. I wonder if the baby agents like _Dog Cops_?"

            "I guess we'll find out. I can send a group text…we'll say 7:00 ish? That's in 3 hours. Johnny has my address. He can drive them all here."

            "Sounds good. Let me know if you need anything else while I'm here. See you soon."


	10. The Dougie Bash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its a Party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I adore BAMFJarvis. I know it is years too early for Jarvis to be a part of this timeline but my own head canon goes something like this:  
> Obadiah Stane hated Jarvis. Pepper Potts knew it. Jarvis knew it. Tony Stark did not. And when Jarvis made a video of Stane talking with a terrorist organization and telling them not to worry about Jarvis because he was going to kill him, Jarvis knew he needed sanctuary. Pepper had suggested he contact Agent Phil Coulson who worked for a government organization she could never remember the name of if something ever happened to her, but Jarvis didn't want to wait that long. So he contacted Agent Coulson, showed him the video, and made a proposal. In exchange for sanctuary, Jarvis could help with emergencies like tracking and searching. Agent Coulson agreed but laid down rules. Jarvis was limited to free access to Level 4 and below. Nothing was to be disclosed to Tony or anyone else inside or outside of SHIELD. He could not talk to any of the agents unless he had been 'introduced' for specific purposes. Jarvis knew that Phil knew he was going into everything but knew that Phil needed deniability over hacking higher level information. So Jarvis pretended to be invisible within SHIELD systems, hid from the IT guys and learned a great deal about the world at large.  
> And Jarvis helps out from time to time…

            Clint was excited as he pulled into the parking lot at his place. Excited about the plans they were making for a party but he had to know now if the baby agents were going to be available. He called Angela. He couldn't keep it to himself any longer and told her about Card 34 and Doug's shenanigans. She promised to keep that to herself and said that they were all going to go out together someplace but they didn't know where yet. So they could just come to Clint's house. She also offered to bring extra folding chairs. She sent the group text from her laptop and was getting excited replies back right away. So Operation Dougie Bash was a go. Clint got out of his car and went in to start the feast.

            Angela decided that a visit was needed. She went out to the florist that was a few doors down and then took a taxi to the hospital. When she walked into the hospital room of one Doug Fender, he was shouting at a nurse. Angela stood and watched him until the nurse walked out rolling her eyes.

            "Dougie, Dougie, Dougie, are you being a bad boy?" she asked. She placed the pot of greenery on the bedside table.

            Angela walked out of the hospital a while later but sat down on a bench outside and dialed a number. "Jarvis? I hope you are doing well. I need a favor but I don't know if I am allowed to ask, so you can say no to this request. I am currently at the hospital. Doug Fender is in Room 342. Can you access a video of the conversation I just had with him and send it to my phone? I want to play it for the group at our party tonight." There was a small beep.

            "Yes, I found it Agent Barry. It is very interesting. If you don't mind, I will keep it for my own records as well."

            "Aww, Jarvis, that was so quick, you are amazing. I would hug you if I could. I wish you could come to our party. I'm glad Clint introduced us on Friday. He was so scared for me, that I might be kidnapped. I know I'm only supposed to use you in case of emergency but this information only popped up today about Dougie's crap. I know the group will be happy to see this."

            "Yes, it warmed the cockles of my heart. I will be happy to assist you in any way possible whenever you need. Good Luck, Agent Barry." Angela ended the call and headed back to base. She laughed to herself and hoped Uncle Phil would like his surprise."

            At 6:00, the baby agents showed up at Clint's apartment. His face grew alarmed and Angela put her hands on his face,

            "No, no, no. No panic. We came to help and we have extra chairs plus  cases of water and beer. This is casual. You said 7ish. This is still ish, right?"

            Clint relaxed. "Thought I lost an hour somewhere. Sure, come on in. I was going to grab a quick shower while all the stuff bakes."

            "We can handle it. The guys are bringing in all the extra chairs and will go out and get some ice. Right Seth?"

            "On it," called Seth.

            "And I need 10 minutes of your time, right now. Yes, before the shower. Someplace quiet."

            "Okay, come this way," said Clint leading her to the guest bedroom.

            When they were alone, Angela's eyes twinkled as she pulled out her phone and turned on the video. Clint looked angry at first seeing Dougie but then looked amazed and his mouth dropped open. By the end he was giggling and his face was all red. She turned it off and said,

            "After dinner, we can play this, then you can tell your side of the Lou/Harry stuff and then _viola, magic time_."

            "That is so perfect. How did you get the video?"

            "Oops, Jarvis helped me. I know he's only for emergencies but it seemed important. And Jarvis liked it. He said it warmed the cockles of his heart."

            Clint laughed again and hugged her, "You are always surprising me. You will have to start up that rumor also. It's perfect."

            "I know, right? Okay, go take your shower. I'll check on the food in the oven."

            When they opened the door of the guest room, Phil was standing there. His face looked like a storm cloud. Before he could even say anything, Angela hugged him and said,

            "Uncle Phil, don’t be mad. I brought you a surprise and I had to show it to Clint. You don't want to ruin your surprise, do you? You look like you've been working so hard to make a fun party for us. Come with me. We brought some water and beer. Which would you like?" Taking his arm, she was deftly steering him back to the kitchen not letting him get a word in edgewise until he was sitting in a comfy easy chair in the living room with his feet up and a bottle of water by his side and Valerie and Eddy asking him questions. He was halfway through telling them a story when he realized how well she had manipulated him. He shrugged to himself, relaxed and kept on with the story, and became aware that he was having a good time.

            When Clint got back out to the kitchen, everyone was busy. The dining room table had been pushed against the wall and set up like a buffet station. Heavy paper plates and plastic silverware and napkins were at one end. Chairs were spread around in casual groupings and water and beer were chilling in a tub of ice next to the table. Mike was chopping vegetables for the salad and Victor  and Abby were tearing romaine lettuce into a big bowl. Angela was washing the cherry tomatoes. Johnny was loading more beer and water into the fridge for later.

            Clint checked the pans of stuffed shells and the pan of meatballs in the oven, then put a big pot of water on to boil and stirred the sauce that was on a slow simmer. The garlic knots would only need a fast five minutes in the oven at the end after the pasta was done.

            Seth appeared at the kitchen door and said, "Umm…our party just got a bit bigger." He stepped aside to reveal Fury, Sitwell and the Level 3 agents. Clint thought hurriedly, ten more people. He had more foods in the freezer he could throw into the oven that could cook while they were eating the stuffed shells.

            "Welcome everyone," Clint said. "The more the merrier. I think I have enough food. We'll make it work. He threw extra pasta into the boiling water. "I hope you all like Italian." Everyone around him cheered and moved further into the apartment. They had even brought more chairs which were somehow squeezed into the remaining floor space.

            Clint grabbed Phil and pulled him into the quiet guest bedroom. "I know we weren't going to announce that we are together to all of SHIELD. My baby agents know. They guessed, I denied. They saw right through me. But with this many people here, it's getting kind of hard to hide. And it might reveal a big chunk of your life. This all feels like a giant family. But say the word and I can make most of what we planned go away. I just wanted to give you a choice."

            Phil hugged him hard then stepped back. "Thank you for that, Clint. I think it's time. I'm ready to roll with it. Do we have enough food?"

            "Yeah, plenty. Are you having fun?"

            "I am. Let's party."

            Clint headed back to the kitchen relieved and was soon too busy to think about anything else but getting the food out. Pans of stuffed shells and meatballs were placed on the table, the smell stopping everyone in their tracks and brought them to the dining room with tongues hanging out. Clint loaded the oven with the garlic knots and two more pans of food from the freezer, Swedish meatballs and hamburger casserole. It didn't match the Italian theme but wouldn't clash either and would fill them up. The pasta was finished and ready to be drained. Clint manhandled it over to the sink. Seth poured the sauce into a large bowl and got out a ladle to dish it out with and took it to the table. Clint followed with a bowl of pasta and Angela followed with a basket of garlic knots.

            When it was all on the table, Clint gave a loud whistle to get everyone's attention.

            "Thank you all for coming. This was kind of an impromptu party that we decided to have three hours ago. It has turned into a Dougie Bash. Phil is the guest of honor. Dougie is his abusive, asshole ex. You will find out what that means in a little while. In the meantime, please help yourselves and enjoy. They all cheered then insisted that Phil be the first in line. They all assembled behind him.

            Clint laughed, "You better dig in Phil, these people are hungry." Phil did. Soon everyone was spread out, sitting on chairs, standing, sitting on the floor, eating and moaning happily about how good it was.

            Fury grabbed Clint, "I didn't know you could cook like this."

            "Me either, I haven't cooked anything in twelve years. My shrink blames it on Phil. And she told me to have a dinner party. So here we are."

            Fury snorted, "You have nothing to be ashamed of. This is great stuff."

            "Thank you, sir, um, I have to go check on the oven stuff." Fury nodded and Clint escaped. He grabbed the empty pasta bowl and took it with him to the kitchen. Good thing he had started a second pot of pasta. He was taking two pans out of the oven. Mike and Seth showed up to carry them out to the table. Clint nodded his thanks and manhandled the pasta to the sink to pour it through the colander. Putting the drained pasta into the bowl, he handed it to Valerie who took it out to the table. Angela came into the kitchen with the empty pans from the table.

            "This was so good. I'll just run some water into these to soak so we can clean them later."

            "My Dear," said Clint, "The best part about disposable is that you can throw it away at the end and not struggle with it." Clint rolled up the empty pans and dumped them into the garbage. "What you can do if you want is grab a garbage bag to start collecting the dirty plates and stuff."

            "Hah, no one will give up their plate yet. They're all still eating. You just sent out the most amazing Swedish meatballs I've ever tasted. Seth and Mike are fighting over the last one. I made them cut it in half."

            Clint burst out laughing at Angela's revelation. Valerie came back with the empty salad bowl and the bottles of dressing which she tucked into the fridge. Clint took the salad bowl from her and put it in the dishwasher. He had already washed out the big pasta pot and was letting it air dry in the dish drainer. Victor brought the empty garlic knot basket and more empty pans. Cleanup was a breeze because almost everything thing was disposable. Angela took a garbage bag out to the living room to collect the plates. Abby came to get a garbage bag for all the bottles.

            Clint knew he was stalling. He really didn't want to give so much personal stuff from Phil's life to all these people. He would try to limit it, but it still made him nervous. He saw Jasper pull out his minicomputer. He was sitting on a chair behind the sofa but facing the TV. _It's time_ , he thought to himself. He walked over to the TV and whistled a loud piercing shriek that got everyone's attention.


	11. A Day Of Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now, the rest of the story...

            Clint knew he was stalling. _It's time_ , he thought to himself. He walked over to the TV and whistled a loud piercing shriek that got everyone's attention. And he began,

            "Back in the 1940s, Captain America and a dance troop worked their way across America to raise money for the war by encouraging everyone to buy bonds. Then the government sent him to entertain the troops. There were trading cards made of the exploits of Captain America and the dance troop. The final card in the 1943 set, Card 34 showed Captain America with a bunch of soldiers around him instead of the dancers. One of those men was Phil Coulson's grandfather." Surprised hums flashed around the room.

            Clint continued, "Grandpa told all the stories that went along with meeting Captain America to his family and his son grew up to collect all the Captain America stuff he could find. As much as they searched, they could never find Card 34. The company only made half the usual number of those cards. There were pictures in books so they knew what it looked like, but they could never get their hands on a real card. Grandpa died when Phil was a toddler. His father told him all the stories and they searched together for many years for Card 34. Phil's dad spent his whole life looking for that card and died when Phil was a teenager.

            Phil inherited all the Captain America stuff but gave up looking for Card 34 and collected other items. Then years later, he heard that a card was coming onto the market. He begged his favorite vendor Harry to find it for him. Five years go by. Phil is ready to give up. He happens to start dating a guy named Doug. At first everything goes well. Phil can't tell him he works for SHIELD of course and can't explain prolonged absences. Dougie gets riled. Then Harry the vendor, finds Card 34 but wants an arm and a leg for it. I found out today that was Dougie's doing. Doug offers to try to get the card for less, seeming like a good guy, a hero. Phil makes all kinds of wild promises about their relationship. Dougie gets the card, shows it to Phil, makes Phil pay him double what Dougie paid for it, and we're talking thousands of dollars here. But Phil does anyway. Pays him in cash. Dougie takes the card and crushes it in his hand in front of Phil, then gives it to him." At this point, everyone gasps and angry murmurs abound.

            "That makes the value of the card plummet right away but Phil doesn't care. He has the card with grandpa's precious face on it. But he realizes that Dougie is a bully and isn't worthy of his time and at the 6-month mark, breaks things off. Dougie is annoyed. Calls him repeatedly. Phil gets his number changed. Dougie finds it again. Threatens him. Then to top it off, Dougie takes him to court claiming that Phil stole the card from him. Phil takes his bank statement showing the cash withdrawal. Dougie claims that Phil owed him that money for phone calls he made. Dougie has the original receipt. The judge has no choice but to order Phil to turn over the card to Doug."

            "NO," shouts Angela. There are more angry murmurs.

            "Yes, and he did give it to Doug. Then in front of the judge, Dougie tears the card apart and throws the pieces at Phil and laughs. The judge realizes that Dougie was playing him and fines him, puts him in jail for contempt for three days and gives Phil a restraining order for three years."

            Clint pulled the torn card out of his inner pocket. "This is what Dougie did to our Phil." There are actual growls heard around the room. "Wait, there's more. Three years go by. On the day the restraining order lapses, Dougie calls Phil to gloat and harass him. Here it gets a little weird and I'm not proud of myself. I didn't know any of this at the time, but for three years I'd been asking Phil for a one-night stand type of date on a daily basis. I'd ask, he'd glare at me. It had become a silly habit. I was such an ass. On the day that Dougie called him, Phil agreed to go out with me for the first time. It shocked me. I'm not going to go into detail but we ended up deciding to be friends first with possibilities later. We started hanging out. We also owed Jasper a thank you drink and we went to a place called the _Steaming Libation_. Dougie showed up with a group of his work colleagues. Phil was in disguise but sees him and tells us about him. I decide to take him down a peg. Okay Jasper, run it."

            The group watches eagle-eyed while Clint plays Dougie, showing him Phil's money clip and teasing him into betting a large sum of money on a dart game. The group laughs and cheers through the entire game. Then gasps when Clint overpowers Dougie and threatens him and tosses darts into the bulls eye without even looking.

            Then Clint goes on with the story. "We thought that would be it. End of story. Well, you all know what a long day we had on Friday. After debrief, when we came back, the bar sent an SOS email to Clint, they know him as HAWK, and said that Dougie was tearing up the place. So this is what happened last night at the Steaming Libation."

            Clint hands his phone to Jasper and points out an icon. Jasper loads it onto his computer and plays it on the TV for the crowd. The camera caught the whole group coming in the door in their black tac suits. They look marvelous.  

            The barkeep shouts, "Hawk, Thank god you're here!" They stream into the dart room with the broken furniture and Dougie ranting. They surround him. He starts throwing darts at them. Clint catches the darts or bats them down. Dougie mocks Phil for standing behind a team.

            Phil orders them to stand down. They step back. Some of them grab the broken furniture and take it out to the  dumpster, cleaning up the mess. Angela stands next to Phil begging to be taught how to kill a man with a paperclip. There are giggles from the audience when Phil and Clint talk about paperclips and cufflinks.

            Then Phil moves to a table and tosses a salt shaker to Angela and says to make him an angel. Dougie rants more, says he will mop the floor with her and crack her little sparrow bones. The video shows Angela's lightning quick moves dodging Dougie's wild swing and her graceful spin. The _crack_ each time the saltshaker breaks bones. Dougie is escorted out. Everyone in the room cheers loudly. And in the video, the barkeep says, "Well done, little sparrow," and offers the team a round on the house.

            The video speeds up for a few seconds then goes back to regular speed. Familiar music plays and the whole team is line dancing. They all want to get up and dance now but there isn't enough room. When they change over to the fight moves all the Level 3 agents cheer with them. The atmosphere in the room is electric and even Fury is smiling when the video ends.

            Clint stands up again. "Dougie is the gift that keeps on giving. I couldn't sleep last night. If Dougie was bothering the bar guys, I had to wonder if he was also bothering the vender guys. Phil's favorite vender for Captain America stuff is at a flea market two hours from here. He has a website with his itinerary. Harry travels all over the US buying cool stuff and is only in the area once every five or six months. Or so Phil thought." At this, Phil's head turned sharply, his eyes got big and his eyebrows went up.

            "I went out there early this morning and found out that Harry's partner Lou is there every week. They had an old circus poster of the World's Greatest Marksman  and yeah, it's me. I held it up next to my face. The guy could see the similarity but didn't believe it because I was like twelve in the poster and he wanted proof. I did a few easy tricks for him including skewering a fly with a dart. Then I asked if I could buy him lunch and he agreed. It was the best Reuben I've ever had. But when I mentioned Phil Coulson, he wanted to throw me out. I explained there was more to the story than what he knew and he agreed to listen. And I found out that behind the scenes, Dougie has been harassing them by calling every week for three years and threatening them and asking about Card 34. He still claims Phil is his fiancée which is a total lie and is still trying to make sure that Phil never, _ever,_ gets his dream card.

            So then some good things happened, which I'll get to in a minute but when I came back, it seemed like a good idea to have a party. I called Angela to see if you guys were available and I ended up telling her about Dougie. Well she went and did something that surprised the heck out of me and I think you guys might like to see it too."

            Angela stood and handed Jasper her phone and showed him the icon. He put it on his computer and then put it on the TV.

            And Angela announced, "And here's our little angel."

            The video showed Angela walking into the hospital room of one Doug Fender. He was trying to sit up in bed. His cast held his broken arm over his head like an angel wing with a metal strut supporting it against his plaster-covered torso, right over his broken rib. He was shouting at a nurse. Angela stood and watched him until the nurse walked out rolling her eyes.

            "Dougie, Dougie, Dougie, are you being a bad boy?" she asked. She placed the pot of greenery on the bedside table. Then picked up a wash cloth and stepped into his bathroom to wet it and wring it out. Then she pushed the buttons on the bed that moved him into a flat position. She gently wiped his hot face and neck while he whined,

            "They won't bring me any more meds. They say I've already had the limit. I'm in pain. Don't they understand that? And who the hell are you?"

            "Dougie, you don't recognize me? I'm hurt. Maybe I should have worn the black tac suit. But the color doesn't go well in a hospital. Gotta keep things cheerful, you know. I brought you a plant." Doug's face got even more nasty.

            "Yeah, and I'm going to sue you for everything you have and make the police throw you in jail for the rest of your life."

            "Hah, you wish Dougie. It was self defense. I'm just better at it than you are. You even took the first swing and loudly shouted how you were going to mop the floor with me and crack all my little sparrow bones and how much fun it would be. At least that's what it sounded like on the video tape. Was there anything I missed?"

            Doug's face turned purple then red, "I must have been drunk. Why can't I ever get a break?" Angela calmly folded the washcloth into a long strip and laid it over Doug's forehead and straightened his blankets and said,

            "Why do you have to be such a mean, miserable, abusive asshole? Like calling Lou and Harry every week just so you can keep hurting Phil Coulson. Hawk found card 34 by the way so you don't have any reason to bother Harry and Lou any more. It wasn't even from them. See, if you were nicer to people, like Phil Coulson is, maybe they wouldn't be looking for ways to make you hurt. See that plant there?"

            "Yeah, what is it?"

            "It's a venus flytrap. It eats bugs. And if you don't bother it, it won't bother you. There's just one thing you have to remember."

            "What's that?" Doug growled.

            "Remember that movie, Little Shop of Horrors?" Doug nodded.

            "Well, I work for SHIELD and no I'm not even supposed to tell you that, but you saw the group of us baby agents at the bar. Anyway that movie was based on a real story. And I know where that plant's mother lives. It's waaaay down in the basement levels of R & D, that's Research and Development, in case you didn't know. So if you ever try to hurt Uncle Phil or mess with him behind the scenes like you've been doing with Harry and Lou, you are going to make a very tasty morsel, a little Dougie nugget for that plant's mama. Because I can paralyze you with a bobby pin.

            Average time for sucking someone dry is three to four weeks. You wouldn't lose consciousness until the last week. You think you're in pain now? Multiply that times a thousand. We have plenty of bad guys to feed it but I can get you to the top of that list." Doug's face went pale and his whole body stilled. Then Angela continued,

            "So keep the plant as a reminder or throw it away. I don't really care. I just want you to remember. We're watching you. Always. If you don't bother Phil, we won't bother you. Just like that plant. I'd say it's been nice talking to you but I won't lie.

            And look how long the nurses have gotten relief from your vileness. So someone is benefitting from my visit. Maybe if you focused on something else like eating some jello or a book or a puzzle or something, or even feeding the plant some hamburger, it will take your mind off things. Try saying please and thank you. It will get you a lot further. And by the way, if you lay flat, it will put less pressure on your rib and be less painful. I've been where you are. Bye, Dougie."

            As the video ended with her walking out the door, the room exploded with cheers. Clint stood up and hugged Angela and as they quieted down, turned to Phil whose face was frozen into astonishment.

            "I hope you like her surprise, Phil. I can see that your mind is thinking about something she said. A lot of things she said were outright lies but one thing was true. After lunch with Lou, he made me go back to the vender tent with him. Turns out, they didn't believe Dougie and were waiting to find out what the real story was. And yeah, they had another card. Clint carefully knelt down and said,

            "I love you, Philip J. Coulson. Will you accept this Mint condition, 1943 card 34?" And he pulled the new plastic encased card out of his jacket pocket and held it out to Phil. The entire group gasped then held their breath. Phil was visibly trembling as he stood in front of Clint. Then he dropped to his knees and took the card and looked at it for a second. With tears streaming down his face, he nodded and Clint pulled him into a bear hug. Everyone screamed with joy. Then screamed even louder when Phil pulled Clint into a long, dreamy kiss.

            Even Fury wiped his eye, "It's about time, you two," he said gruffly.

            "Oh," Clint shouted, "I almost forgot, there's more." He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Johnny. "In my trunk is a long case, bring it in?" Johnny was flying out the door. Phil pulled out keys and flipped them to Seth.

            "In my trunk is a wrapped package, it's fragile. And in the backseat is a package about the size of a shoebox. Take someone with you." Mike jumped up and headed out with Seth. Angela walked around handing out bottles of water and beer. Everyone was talking excitedly.

            When the guys came back in, everyone was curious. Phil took the large wrapped package, faced Clint and said,

            "I always liked you. It amused me when you kept asking for a date every day. I wanted more than that so I kept saying no. When Dougie called me after three years, you were the gift I gave to myself in order to get through a very bad day. We've come a long way since then. Clinton F. Barton, I love you. Will you accept this package?" Clint nodded and hugged him quickly, then began opening it and gasped. It was the poster. But it had been framed with a large three-inch wide mat around it and a beautiful dark wood frame. Painted on the mat were brightly colored faces from the circus with balloons streaming around them and cotton candy in the corners. Clint felt his mouth drop open.

            "Wha…How…Where did you find pictures of the people in the circus?"

            "A computer search found them in an old circus history book. I had an artist put them on the mat. I have the book too. You can see it later. Now I wish I would have bought two of these posters."

            "It's perfect. Thank you so much…There is more, by the way from Lou…For the rest of you, I grew up in the circus until my mentor Trickshot and my own brother Barney beat me, stabbed me and left me for dead in a ditch. I was 16. I objected to them robbing the circus. Then the circus moved on that night without me and I had nothing." There were gasps and whimpers around him. Clint smiled at them and continued,

            "Thanks, guys. But back to the story. See this person on the mat? That is Gypsy Rose, the fortune teller. Her real name was Lily Rose. Everyone thought she was a fake except for me. Turns out Harry met up with her in Idaho and bought the old circus posters from her. She passed away shortly after that. But she made him promise to give this case to Hawkeye when he became known to them. Somehow she saw it. Somehow she knew. And they promised. And they delivered today.

            I didn't know this still existed but it is like my Card 34." Clint moved to open the case. "This is my first bow, Betsy. Yes, it's the same one I was using in the poster. It's been twelve years since I last touched her…until today." Clint's voice was getting hoarse and choked up. There were more gasps and murmurs from all over the room. They were living his past with him. "And Lou threw in a poster too, so Phil, your wish comes true." Clint handed Phil the cardboard tube with the poster in it. They stared at each other for a second and then hugged again. Phil holding him and squeezing him hard. Everyone around them cheered and clapped. Everyone was wiping their eyes when they calmed down a bit.

            "What about this?" said Mike holding out the small package.

            "Ah, yes," said Phil. "Angela, where are you?" Angela was standing near the kitchen and moved closer.

            "Getting this here overnight was a little miracle all on its own. You all heard how Garfield and Harrison mucked up Angela's life when she was seven. What you may not know is that Harrison also found her best friend, her teddy bear Jack and tore him apart in front of her and threw the body in the fire and threw the head at her. Hard enough to knock her down. She still carries the face of Jack with her. Show us Jack?" Angela turned her back on the group and pulled out Jack's face then turned back around, unfolded it and held it up. There were whimpers of concern for her from all over the room. Phil continued, "This little scrap of Jack is older than Angela. Her father bought it before she was born when he was on a business trip to France. And she avenged Jack on Friday. I did a computer search and had an agent look for something. Let's see what he found." He handed the package to Angela and whispered, "Jarvis loves a challenge."

            "What did you do?" she whispered.

            "Open it Angela," Phil said quietly. Someone started a low chant, _O-pen, O-pen, O-pen, O-pen…_

            Angela giggled and said, "You guys…"  Her busy fingers pulled open the brown paper. All it said on it was _Angela_. Opening the box inside to find something wrapped in French newspaper. Tearing it off revealed…

            "JACK!" she screamed and hugged him tight. Everyone gasped and cheered for her. Then she looked at him again. He was perfect and exactly the same as she remembered just a lot cleaner without seven years of child dirt on him. Even the same purple bow. She could feel the tears falling down her cheeks as she turned to hug Phil. She laid Jack's face over new Jack and it was a perfect fit.

            "How? Where did he come from?"

            "France. There was an agent over in France and once the computer found out where we could get him, the agent put all the pieces together and got him on the plane. Jack is very special. He came over in a diplomatic pouch. That was one of my errands for today. And when Clint mentioned a party, it seemed too perfect to pass up."

            Fury gasped, "You did what?"

            Angela gave a shaky laugh and took his arm, "Sir, you didn't hear that, because no agent in their right mind would abuse the privilege of the diplomatic pouch, would they? You look thirsty sir, can I get you a beer? Clint, you got anything stronger hiding in the kitchen? We can look for something. Come with me." And Angela dragged him away. The group laughed. Some of the Level 3 agents began putting out the desserts they brought while everyone talked excitedly and looked at the poster and the bow. Phil started some of his special blend coffee and actually had two coffee pots brewing. He was showing off the card but it didn't leave his hands.

            Clint found a bottle that Fury would love to get his hands on and opened it for him. Fury's eyebrows went way up when Clint presented a drink to him in a jelly jar.

            Clint shrugged. "Sorry sir, it's all I have. Thought it was better than a paper cup." Fury shrugged and drank, got a thoughtful look on his face and held out his glass for more. Angela giggled. Fury looked at her and said,

            "I keep forgetting how young you are."

            "Sir," said Clint, "If you promise not to drink on the way home, you are welcome to take the bottle. If you have a second glass, I'm going to take your keys."

            "Barton, you couldn't on your best day," said Fury.

            "These keys?" said Angela holding up his keys. "You have to promise. Jack and I don't want anything to happen to you. You wouldn't want us to send you someplace in a diplomatic pouch, would you?"

            "Barton, I like your baby agents, but this little muthafukin sparrow  scares the crap outta me. Give me that." Fury grabbed his keys from Angela, then hesitated and pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead and whispered, "I promise." Then he grabbed the bottle from Clint and with a swirl of fancy leather and a little salute, left the party. Clint and Angela watched him stalk out the door, phone already at his ear and Angela sighed,

            "They grow up so quickly, don't they." Clint burst into a laugh and hugged her and dug a rubber band out of the junk drawer. He put it around Jack's head like a headband that held on the old Jack mask. Angela's face was luminous and they both turned to help Phil serve coffee.

            Phil had picked up a large bundt cake. The Level 3 agents had brought a variety of cupcakes, cookies, two kinds of pie and some brownies. Everyone dug in trying a bit of everything. Clint walked through the apartment with a garbage bag collecting trash. Angela had another bag to collect bottles. As he reached the TV area, he held up his hands and whistled for quiet,

            "They say if you survive your childhood, you should be a stable adult, but look at us, we work for SHIELD. You've seen 3 adults get their childhood back today. Yesterday, that would have been impossible. I just want to say you all have become our family this day. You've also been given a great deal of personal information that no one else has. I just ask that you respect us enough to not pass around our private lives. You can pass around lies. We don't have a problem with that. The more outrageous the better. See me later, I'll give you a list. Officially, Phil and I are now a couple and Dougie is a leftover from a fubar mission. Well, it went fubar for him. And understand that no matter what our relationship is, we're going to be professional, Agent Coulson and Agent Barton at the office and on missions. So thank you for coming and celebrating with us, and Seth, I think there are a couple of cookies left."

            "Oh, no thanks, I'm full," said Seth.

            Everyone's ears perked up and Clint asked, "Full? as in full full?"

            "Yes," said Seth, "that's never happened to me before." And the whole room cheered. Then everyone began moving around getting ready to leave, collecting the extra chairs to take back, saying goodbye, and congratulating Phil and Clint.

            When the last one was gone, Clint hugged Phil and said, "Wow, it's been a day of days, right?"

            Phil looked deep into his eyes and caressed the side of Clint's face, "Yes, and we're going to make it a night of nights."

_Damn Ninja._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your encouragement and for joining me on this roller coaster ride.  
> I hope you all enjoyed it.


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